


Partition

by Butidoevenknow



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: AU, Akaashi wears whatever the fuck he wants, Bokuaka - Freeform, Bokuto could not know LESS about Akaashi, Fame, I'm Bad At Tagging, If not more so, Implied homophobia, Kuroo and Bokuto live together, Kuroo is just a huge fanboy, M/M, Other, a lot of texting, and, and said making out may or may not be badly written, but as you approach chapter 10, famous au, in which Akaashi is as famous as beyonce, maybe???, really slow burn, there may or may not be making out later on, with no sign of romantic intention, you contemplate life, you thought i was joking about the slow burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-05
Updated: 2016-09-10
Packaged: 2018-05-18 08:32:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 45,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5914207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Butidoevenknow/pseuds/Butidoevenknow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bokuto doesn't really listen to Akaashi Keiji's music, unlike most of the rest of the world. Kuroo is probably Akaashi's number 1 fan, so he decides to help Kuroo get to a concert.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Radio

 

As much as Bokuto liked listening to Kuroo rant about Akaashi Keiji and his music, along with pretty much the rest of the PLANET, he hasn't listened to more than the two or three select songs they play on the radio every once in a while. That's not to say he never will, he's just... uninterested? No, that's not the word. It means distracted but in a different sort of way. It'll bother him all day.

"HAAAA HA!" Kuroo laughs. His laugh is too loud for such an apartment. Bokuto isn't one to talk though. His default volume is a yell, so.

Kuroo yells for him, and he coughs, rolling off the couch and then standing up once he's successfully on the floor. He jogs over to Kuroo's door. Kuroo's playing some quirky pop song.

"Ya know how Lev won that ticket to a concert of his choice?"

"Yeah, you were pretty angry cause he put in like a tenth of the money you put in to try and win and--"

"Okay so I told him that he hadn't given me a birthday gift and he owed me one and before you go and tell me that I shouldn't take advantage, he's missed my last TWO birthdays, okay. Its worth it. I told him I wanted tickets to go see someone who's coming to concert later this month, and so he agreed and he gave me the ticket and I just found out that Akaashi's playing here in like, a week. And dude, come on--"

"Okay, yeah, okay but if he's playing here in like a day or two, I'm pretty sure he's got everything sold out by like, last week, man."

"Bo, shut your fuck for like .2 seconds. I've got a PLAN. So, Kenma told me his friend's family can't make it to the concert, and he's got like 4 tickets, so he gave Kenma 3 of them, and Kenma told me he'd give them to me, IF I gave him the your choice ticket, because he wants to go see his weird indie band, but whatever man, his choice. So, long story short, we're going, or at least I am, but I'll need ya to at least drive me if you aren't going." Kuroo finishes, and Bokuto shrugs. Kuroo totaled his car when he was trying to take a dare. 

"Okay, dude. Shrugs are cool and all, but are you coming, and if you're not, can you at least take me? I'll pay for gas and stuff, you know."

"Pffsssh, you really think I wouldn't take you? I'm pretty sure I've heard you whining about seeing Akaashi in concert like 4000 times of course I'll go." Bokuto blurts, waving his arms around haphazardly.

"Nice." Kuroo grins, and puts his hand up. Bokuto grins and high fives him. 

And for the next four and a half days Kuroo is twitchy and jumpy. Bokuto, who could probably care less about Akaashi's music, is not at all jumpy or nervous. When Bokuto asks Kuroo about the reason why he's so nervous, Kuroo looks at him with a raised eyebrow and a confused expression.

"Okay, listen, what would happen if some freak accident happens, and I get lost, and then I end up meeting him? It's happened before, I'm pretty sure."

"I dunno man, don't they have like seven security guards around him like almost 24/7? Plus, it seems so unlikely you'd get lost. You've got a killer sense of direction."

"Probably." Kuroo shrugs, leaning back in the chair and going back to playing his game.

Bokuto's not necessarily looking forward to being in a giant crowd with thousands of people only to watch an artist he doesn't really listen to sing a few songs, and then leave. But, if Kuroo's excited about it, he should be excited about it too. He is excited for the new experiences he'll probably have though. He's only been to one other concert in his life, and that one was a drastic letdown. Only like, 400 people showed up. 

Bokuto SERIOUSLY doubts there'll only be 400 people at THIS concert, however.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me what you think!


	2. Look me up and down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bokuto is obsessed with finding the right word.

"Whoa, that's a line and a half."

"Pssh, what were you expecting? This isn't some unpopular band concert, man." Kuroo laughs, shaking his head and standing in line. Bokuto rushes over to his side.

"Okay, yeah. But like, this is a LOT." Bokuto states and Kuroo stares at him in an amused sort of confused.

"It won't take long once they start letting people in though, I wouldn't worry dude."

"I'm not worried though, I've been to concerts before."

"You went to one, and you were like, 12. Your mother dropped you off, man."

"Okay, but--"

"Dude, admit it. You've never been to an ACTUAL concert." Kuroo grins, sitting up on the railing as people start filing into the empty space near them. Bokuto laughs.

"I've never been to a real concert." He says, putting his hands in his pockets, both to warm his hands up, and to protect anything in his pockets from people who may want to take it.

"I'm sorry, could you- could you repeat that? A little louder for the audience." Kuroo puts a hand to his jaw and smiles.

"I HAVE NEVER BEEN TO A REAL CONCERT." Bokuto yells and about ten people glare at him. He hears a woman yell 'well, you're in for a REAL fucking good one' back.

Kuroo is laughing his ass off, and nearly falls back off the railing once or twice.

"I can't take you anywhere. You take like, any dare I give you. Like, dude, if I asked you set a car on fire, you'd do it."

"Depends on what car." Bokuto shrugs.

"SEE?!"

"They're letting people in." Bokuto changes the subject, and Kuroo's eyes flit toward the door, where they are, in fact, ushering people in. Kuroo hops off the railing and starts walking forward with the tightly packed crowd. 

And by the time Kuroo and Bokuto actually get inside, Akaashi's already starting to get onstage and talk. Bokuto almost tells Kuroo that he likes Akaashi's speaking voice better than his singing voice, but Kuroo would likely maul him for that. It's only when they get to their seats when he realizes how close they actually are to the front. He also realizes Akaashi's sitting on the very edge of the stage, obscured by overly bright lights, asking some of his fans nice questions, like what their favorite color is.

That's nice, he doesn't let the fame get to him. Of course, someone catches his attention, and he stands up and apologizes, telling them he has to actually perform now. Kuroo punches Bokuto in the arm.

"At least try to enjoy it." Kuroo grins. Bokuto laughs.

"I'll try."

And Bokuto has to adjust to Akaashi, because now that he's not blurred and unseeable due to the huge lights up on the stage, he's just... shit, what's the word? That'll annoy him the rest of this concert. Akaashi's definitely not one of the artists who wear outlandish costumes and things on stage. He's just wearing a really deep navy blue suit, and his tie is flowery and dotted. He doesn't realize Akaashi's singing until he's temporarily gotten rid of the 'what's the word' question stuck in his mind.

It's not like he hasn't seen Akaashi in pictures before, it's just, different. Akaashi also likes to pause in the middle of his songs to address random screams from the crowd. At one point, Kuroo laughs and yells 'this guy here hasn't listened to you before.' at the top of his lungs, pointing at Bokuto, and Akaashi stops singing and steps a little closer to the edge of the stage, leaning over a bit, and looking over at them.

Bokuto is generally pretty good with anyone and eye contact but it's pretty overwhelming when someone who's almost unnaturally attractive and could probably create an army just by asking makes eye contact. Bokuto is about to run around the entire stadium 12 times, he's so oddly charged.

"That's a shame." Akaashi says, backing away from the edge of the stage, and motioning for the music to start again. Kuroo is punching Bokuto's arm multiple times and screaming. Bokuto starts slapping at Kuroo's hands, and Kuroo laughs.

"My guess is you're enjoying it?" Kuroo yells, as the song transitions to a slower, more nostalgic sounding one. Bokuto gives a sort of nod. Kuroo grins, and nods toward the stage.

Around 30 minutes before the end of the concert, Bokuto is back onto trying to figure out the word. He tries looking up a word to see if it's the word he's looking for, but the connection is so bad. He then tells Kuroo he's going to go find somewhere with a better signal, and Kuroo absentmindedly dismisses him.

He manages to get lost in 4 minutes, but he's sure he could find his way back if he could get a signal. Maybe. He starts getting a signal about 11 minutes after he's COMPLETELY lost, and he immediately starts looking up the word. That's not it. He knows it's SOME word for beautiful.

He continues walking until he finds a relatively strong signal, and sits on the floor near it, searching up different words for beautiful, trying to figure it out. It isn't until Kuroo calls him asking him where he is, does he realize the concert is probably over.

"Honestly, I've got no idea. Got a little lost." 

"Jesus, I can't take you anywhere. I'll find some security guards to help find you. Stay where you are, you turd." Kuroo laughs.

"Of course." Bokuto says, and Kuroo hangs up. He's alerted to the sound of a few people coming down the hall, and he turns back to check who it is, and he's immediately greeted by Akaashi, and someone arguing with him, probably his manager, and a bodyguard. 

Actually, wait. Akaashi doesn't have a manager. Maybe another bodyguard? Or--

"Uh, hello, who's this?" The guy arguing with Akaashi is the one to notice Bokuto, unfortunately. Akaashi spins around to look at Bokuto.

"Captivating!" Bokuto blurts, recalling the word. Not the best time.

"I think he's just lost. It's--" Akaashi's interrupted by the man.

"Okay, but how the hell did he get past the security guards?"

"There weren't any." Bokuto interjects, and everyone looks over at him as if he was crazy, besides Akaashi.

"He's right, there aren't any security guards. I don't need to be watched 24/7." Akaashi snaps, and the man grimaces.

"I won't have another goddamn tabloid scandal."

"Is it really YOUR choice?" Akaashi says, oddly calmly. The man scowls and stomps off. Bokuto is both confused and nervous, because what the hell does he do in this situation. Akaashi looks back at Bokuto.

"Sorry, that's just my... sort-of manager. He helps with public image. Useless, if you ask me. The public can think what they want. I don't care. Are you lost, or are you just REALLY determined?" Akaashi waves his bodyguard away.

"Uh, I'm just lost. I was looking for a signal to look up a word."

"At a concert?" Akaashi asks, one hand on his hip, the other in his pocket.

"Yeeeeessssss."

"Was the word you looked up captivating?"

"Yeah."

"Why were you looking up the word captivating?" Akaashi asks, crossing his arms. Akaashi's definitely captivating. Definitely.

"I wanted to make sure that it was the right word to describe you." Bokuto says, completely unfazed by how obvious that sounded. Akaashi stands there for a second before looking down at the floor and laughing. He looks back up at Bokuto a moment later, grinning.

"Are you just flirting with me?" Akaashi asks, and Bokuto splutters, grabbing his phone.

"No, no, no, here look, I was just- I was just trying to find the word." Bokuto walks over and shows Akaashi his search history.

"I'm just stupidly honest, most of the time." Bokuto says once Akaashi leans closer to look at his phone again.

"Ah. I have a question." Akaashi says, starting to walk away. Bokuto jogs after him.

"Yeah?"

"You've never listened to me before, but you came to one of my concerts?" Akaashi asks, opening a door and walking in.

"Yeah, my best friend, Kuroo, got this your choice ticket from a friend, and then he traded it for TWO tickets he got from his other friend that got them from another friend, and he has to take someone else, because he totaled his car because we were being stupid, and so I was like, I can drive you, and at first he didn't think it was such a good idea because I didn't really listen to you and he's a huge fan, but he decided to bring me with, which is really cool, because now I've met you, and I can tell people, hey, I talked to Akaashi Keiji once, how about that." Bokuto rants, and Akaashi listens intently, putting a jacket on over his suit. Bokuto stops.

"Sorry. I do that a lot. You don't need to listen if you don't want to."

"No, you seem to care, so I'll listen. It's fun." Akaashi states, walking out of the room. Bokuto runs after him again.

"Where are you going?" Bokuto asks, and Akaashi scoffs.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm going to help you find your friend Kuroo. I can't have you stay lost forever. Plus, it seems he's a 'huge fan' and I can't deprive him of meeting his idol."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 for all of you. Hope you like it.
> 
> Also, thanks for reading, cause it really makes my day to see new comments or new bookmarks.


	3. Tell me how I'm looking

"Okay, sorry, repeat that?" Akaashi asks, crossing his arms. 

"So, okay, he told me NOT to touch the burner, and I misheard him so I was like, you WANT me to touch the burner? And then I was going to touch the burner but our buddy Lev accidentally knocked me over before I could and so Kuroo ran over and clarified. Now that I think about it, that would've been SO stupid."

"You really don't have a danger filter do you?"

"I've been told many times by many people, that I do NOT possess any sort of fear."

"Do you?" 

"Do I what?" Bokuto says, slightly distracted by a pillar that looks a little smaller than the others maybe.

"Have any fears?"

"Oh, yeah. Of course. Who doesn't." Bokuto shrugs and catches Kuroo on the phone up ahead.

"Okay, quick warning, Kuroo is either going to try to beat me to death, or talk about embarassing shit until the sun rises tomorrow to try and fail to impress you."

"Honestly, Kuroo sounds just, so interesting."

"I'm sure he'll live up to your expectations. KUROO!" Bokuto yells, waving his arms around frantically. Bokuto can't tell if he hears Akaashi laugh at this, or if he's just replaying it in his head for the 40th time. Kuroo waves, and leaves his hand up in the air for an uncomfortable minute or two after he sees Akaashi. He hangs up the phone and starts punching Bokuto in the arm harshly.

"WHAT THE FUCK! YOU CAN'T GET LOST AND THEN MEET AKAASHI KEIJI AND NOT TELL ME!" Kuroo yells, punching Bokuto one last time. Bokuto may or may not have a bruise soon. Akaashi is watching in mild amusement.

"SEE? I told you he was going to try and beat me."

"Well, technically, you said he was going to try and beat you to death. He only punched you 13 times in the arm." Akaashi corrects him, and Kuroo punches Bokuto in the arm once more, to Akaashi's confusion.

"He dislikes odd numbers." Bokuto shrugs. Kuroo laughs a little too loudly, and its completely nervous.

"Hello, Kuroo." Akaashi chuckles, and Kuroo looks like he's about to collapse.

"Bokuto, how could you do this to me. I'm deathly unprepared for this." Kuroo mutters, and Akaashi rolls his eyes.

"You can just talk to me like I'm a real person, and not a god, for one." He states, exasperated. Kuroo laughs nervously again. Akaashi grins, and then checks the watch he's got on.

"Ah, I've gotta go. Bokuto, may I see your phone?" Akaashi asks, holding out his hand. Bokuto, knowing when he should and shouldn't give his phone to someone, slaps it into his hand. Akaashi opens it up and types something in, quickly waving goodbye, and running off, tossing the phone back to Bokuto.

Bokuto was not expecting Akaashi's number. Bokuto could sell this to some obsessed fan for a ton of money probably. But it seems sort of rude to betray Akaashi's privacy like that. So he just makes a contact, and texts Akaashi a video of Kuroo freaking out and babbling now that he'd walked away. Akaashi responds with 'Oh my god, he's obsessed with me, isn't he?'

He responds with a yes, and Bokuto then walks outside to the car with a deeply embarassed Kuroo in tow. Once they're both in the car, and driving, Kuroo asks what Akaashi put into his phone, and Bokuto, unsure if Akaashi wanted Kuroo to know too, tells him that Akaashi just wrote that he thought Kuroo was funny.

"REALLY?! HE THOUGHT I WAS FUNNY?!"

"Yeah, that's what it said."

"Cool! Nice. Akaashi Keiji thinks I'm funny." Kuroo mutters to himself, smiling widely. He looks like a kid who was just told they were getting a dog or a cat or something. He also falls asleep halfway home, and Bokuto turns the radio down. At least, until the station starts an interview with Akaashi. And normally, Bokuto wouldn't want to listen, but the first question is about how his concert went. 

"It was good, actually. One of the best ones I've performed in a while." Akaashi sounds honest. The interviewer asks if he met any new fans. Akaashi laughs.

"I meet thousands of new fans every concert. But yeah, sure." He answers. Bokuto huffs and texts Akaashi as he stops for a red light.

To: A. K.  
aw i dont get a special shoutout????

"Ah, wait a second." Akaashi says, and the interviewer chuckles.

From: A. K.  
Are you really listening to this? 

To: A. K.  
YES!!!

"Sorry, please continue." Akaashi says, and Bokuto can almost hear him smiling. 

"Is it true you've decided to take a break from music after next week's concert, marking the end of your tour?"

"Well, I suppose that depends on what you define taking a break as. I'm still going to be working on new songs and a new album, but I'm not going to be performing anywhere for quite a bit. I'd like to spend time with my family, or friends, before heading back into that sort of thing."

"And why are you taking this break?"

"Because it gets stressful, and keeping up public image isn't as easy as it sounds." Akaashi responds, and Bokuto probably isn't the only one who senses the venom buried underneath the fake happiness he's portraying. Bokuto pulls into the driveway, but continues to listen to the radio interview.

"Well, I have two more questions, as I was made aware of your busy schedule."

"Please."

"Last year, there were many rumors about--"

"Not answering this question."

"Alright... How long do you think this break you're taking will last?" The interviewer asks, and Akaashi sighs.

"I don't know, honestly. Until I feel comfortable enough to start up again." Akaashi answers, and the interviewer then wishes him good luck and bids him goodbye. Bokuto turns off the radio and wakes up Kuroo, climbing out of the car, and grabbing his phone.

To: A. K.  
what rumors though?

From: A. K.   
Rumors about my personal life. That's all you or anyone needs to know.

To: A. K.  
sorry i asked

From: A. K.  
No, it's fine, I'd just rather not talk about it. I'm berated for it enough by my public image whatever he is. Consultant?

To: A. K.  
i think hed be called a consultant yeah

From: A. K.  
Ah, thanks.

Bokuto sticks his phone on the charger and Kuroo walks into the kitchen, scanning all the cupboards and the fridge for something to eat.

"Dude, why do we only have shit food." Kuroo whines. Bokuto twists around to look at him.

"I dunno, invite Lev and Kenma over, I'm sure they'll bring something. I know Lev always does." Bokuto tells him, and Kuroo's eyes widen, and Bokuto realizes there's a possibility of a game night. Kuroo must also realize this because he mutters about game night. He pulls out his phone and texts everyone who is usually at these things.

See, game night is DEFINITELY not an actual game night. Much to Kenma's distaste.

Game night is usually a night of complete shit, where they each do stupid shit for certain bragging rights or prizes. Sort of like a giant game of truth or dare, but it's all dare. And there's no limits. The last game night was also when Kuroo totaled his car, and if that doesn't tell you something, Lev was dared to cut a tree in the park down one game night, and he nearly got arrested, but the only reason he wasn't is because the officer thought he was adorable, and he reminded her of one of her cats.

In fact, the only few who haven't had something drastic happen to them on game night are Kenma, Yaku, and Shirofuku. Shirofuku almost never shows up though, so that's probably why she hasn't gotten into trouble yet. Maybe she'd make it to this one. If this does turn into game night. Kuroo yells happily, so Bokuto figures at LEAST one person is in for game night.

"Who's coming?" Bokuto asks, leaning over the back of the couch, putting his hands on the floor.

"Yaku and Kenma can make it, Lev still has to ask his mother."

"Wait, I thought he moved out of his parents' house?"

"He did, but then he accidentally set his new place on fire, and got scared so he's back at home now." Kuroo explains with an amused grin.

"Classic Lev." Bokuto and Kuroo both say, nearly at the same time. Kuroo's phone rings and he picks up and starts talking. Bokuto checks on his phone. Akaashi sent a picture of a dog.

To: A. K.  
HOL Y WOW LOOK AT THE DOG!! WHATS ITS NAME?

From: A. K.  
It's not mine, it's my consultant's. And his name is Mokuzai.

To: A. K.  
i get it

From: A. K.   
Who wouldn't?

To: A. K.  
are you doing anything right now

To: A. K.  
im not trying to be weird

From: A. K.  
Besides meeting with my consultant for a few minutes, no.

To: A. K.  
well would it be bad for your public image if you came to a thing with kuroo me and a few others

From: A. K.  
You realize if I WAS to come to whatever you're inviting me to, I'd have to wear something like a disguise if we're going to be out in public?

To: A. K.  
the real question is if you want to come or not because if you really want to come i think a disguise is worth it

From: A. K.  
You sure convinced me.

To: A. K.   
so youre coming???

From: A. K.  
I don't know, what's your address? I'll see if I can.

Bokuto flails around and nearly types the address wrong. Once it's sent, Akaashi doesn't respond until Kuroo's confirmed that Shirofuku can actually make it to this one, and so can Lev.

From: A. K.  
Sorry, my consultant made last minute plans with some other dickhead, when I specifically told him I didn't want to do anything else today. 

To: A. K.  
its cool im sure kuroo wouldnt have been able to handle having you in the house

From: A. K.  
God, yeah. Well, enjoy yourself, I have to go.

Bokuto can't help but feel a little bad. Now that Bokuto thinks about it, Akaashi did look tired. He must be overworked.

Kuroo answers the door for Yaku and Shirofuku. Yaku is holding an actual torch.

"Sorry, one of you left this in my trunk last time this happened." Yaku explains. Kuroo grins.

"This is gonna be fun."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I LOVE YOU GUYS YOU COMMENT SUCH GREAT THINGS.
> 
> Magnets (feat. Lorde) - Disclosure


	4. Circulate the image

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bokuto gets a new phone, and Akaashi may or may not be overworked.

See, there are pros and cons to having game nights.

Pros:  
They're fun  
They're also cool  
You get to hangout with rad people  
Said people bring food?

Cons:  
There is always a MORE than slight chance SOMEONE will get arrested or hurt  
Sometimes people accidentally drop their phones into lakes.

Well, the phone in the lake thing has only happened to Bokuto, but it was a terrible time for that to happen, because now it's been 3 days, and he's just now getting a replacement. Who KNOWS what Akaashi could have said in that time?

What if Akaashi had texted him telling him he'd gotten engaged? Well, okay, Bokuto doesn't like the feeling that thought gives him, but yeah, you get it. Something bad could've happened.

Of course when Kuroo's driving back from the store, and Bokuto actually gets his phone on, Bokuto has 3 messages, and he assumes he would have more if everyone HADN'T seen him accidentally throw his phone into a lake. When Bokuto reads them, 2 are from Kuroo telling him how stupid throwing his phone into a lake was, and then realizing he texted a phone that doesn't work anymore.

The other one, is NOT from Akaashi. Slightly disheartening. But Bokuto is absolutely sure Akaashi has his reasons. He's busy! Bokuto knows that for a FACT.

"Dude, you have your phone like, glued on your face." Kuroo states, and Bokuto scrambles to put his phone away.

"Sorry! I was just checking my messages!" Bokuto explains and Kuroo grins.

"Oh? What's so important that you have to check it as the VERY first thing?"

"My mother has problems with the new cat again, that's what."

"Damn, I thought you had a hot girlfriend or something." Kuroo clicks his tongue and Bokuto laughs. The radio starts playing one of Akaashi's songs, and, almost unnaturally, Bokuto is the first one to turn it up.

Kuroo looks both proud and shocked. But then Akaashi starts singing and Kuroo immediately picks up (badly) singing. Bokuto does the right thing and takes a video and sends it to Akaashi. Hopefully Akaashi didn't delete his number or something. He can imagine Akaashi gets a lot of new phone numbers every day.

Does Akaashi have more than one phone? That's a question. A question he can ask. So he does. It isn't until he's back home in his room playing a video game, about an hour and a half later, that Akaashi responds.

From: A. K.  
I have two phones. One's for business and the other is personal. You have my personal number.

To: A. K.  
how many other people have your personal number??

From: A. K.  
11 people. Not including my parents.

To: A. K.  
so i should be flattered

From: A. K.  
If you feel like being flattered, yes.

To: A. K.  
also sorry i havent talked to you i threw my phone into a lake

From: A. K.  
That sounds like quite the story.

To: A. K.  
not really i was just really tired and maybe drunk and i was throwing rocks into the lake and just happened to drop my phone

And Bokuto waits impatiently for a response for 10 minutes, before sighing and giving up.

He's just finished level 17 of the game when Akaashi calls.

"Ah, uh, wai- AAAH- Okay, we're good I caught it." Bokuto says, holding the phone to his ear with his shoulder, shoving the controller into a drawer.

"What did you need to catch?" Akaashi coughs, which is followed by a sharp inhale.

"Uh, my game controller- are you okay?" Bokuto stands up, bringing his hand up to the phone.

"Ah, I'm fine. Don't worry. I have a question for you." Akaashi laughs quietly.

"Yeah, shoot. I'm just going to- wait- just going to go outside."

"Why are you- never mind. Did you give anyone else this number? This includes Kuroo."

"No, I thought you might not want me to spread it, because then you'd be even more overworked and--"

"You think I'm overworked?" Akaashi's tone of voice is hard to decipher, but its either something like confusion, or nervousness.

"Um, well... yeah. Yeah. Sorry." Bokuto mutters, and Akaashi coughs again, but it turns into his nice enchanting laugh. Bokuto closes the front door behind him.

"No, you're... probably right. I haven't had a day off in, oh what, 3 years? I thought taking this break would help, but it turns out there's going to be a lot more work than usual these last few days. Sort of like a grand finale, I suppose."

"Yeah, but isn't this break only until you feel comfortable again?" Bokuto asks, and Akaashi makes a sound of assent.

"But, if most of your choices involving your comfort are made by your image consultant who wants you working 24/7, doesn't that mean you probably won't ACTUALLY get any time off?" Bokuto explains, and Akaashi hums in thought.

"You're a lot smarter than you come off as." Is all Akaashi says in response.

"Uhm, thanks? Ooh, but, if I'm being honest, you should fire your consultant, Akaashi. You sound sick."

"Oh, no. No, I'm not sick, I'm just... it- I was just outside. I'm just cold is all. I'm not sick, I swear." Akaashi laughs, and it's followed by him sniffling, and someone yelling his name in the background.

"As long as you swear." Bokuto smiles, walking past the tiny dump of a park they have in the apartment complex. Akaashi chuckles, and announces he has to hang up. Bokuto manages to yell goodbye before he hangs up. He whips around to head back, and Kuroo is standing a few yards back, staring at him like he's a god.

"Have you been following me...?"

"I was- yes." Kuroo mutters, and then rushes over.

"Bokuto, tell me that WASN'T the Akaashi I'm thinking of."

"I'll answer that if you tell me why you're following me, dude." Bokuto blurts, and Kuroo rolls his eyes.

"Okay, well, I heard you on the phone, and I was like 'dang who's he talking he sounds happy it must be somebody he's got a crush on or some shit' and so I decided I'd put on some shoes and head out to listen. You know what a natural eavesdropper I am." Kuroo huffs. 

"Oh. Uh, well, it... it IS the Akaashi you're thinking of... BUT, he doesn't want me to give anyone this number. Or for anyone to know I have this number, I think." Bokuto grins awkwardly.

"I don't even care, at this point. YOU, Bokuto koutarou, have AKAASHI KEIJI'S number?! That's some real romance novel shit right there."

"It's not that- wait, Kuroo. You read romance novels?" Bokuto starts walking back. Kuroo splutters.

"NO! I don't- I mean, I DO read romance novels but, only- only the good ones."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... he was just.... he was crying... hes not sick......
> 
> Sorry this chapter is so short, I'm planning on a pretty big chapter in a day or two, so pfft.


	5. Roll up the partition

Bokuto watches as, a day before Akaashi's last concert, new rumors about Akaashi pop up in magazines and newspapers. Bokuto buys one of the magazines, just to at least try and get a gist of what happened.

Turns out, Akaashi DID fire his public image consultant, but his consultant went around giving out Akaashi's personal number, and giving screenshots of 'insults' Akaashi had texted his consultant, not to mention the many interviews he did to speak the 'truth' about Akaashi. It was rumored that Akaashi was going to cancel his last concert. 

This must be why Akaashi hasn't responded lately. He probably can't use his regular phone anymore. That's fine. He doesn't feel bad about it. Not at all. He's fine.

Kuroo is pushing Kenma through the store at high speeds with a cart. Kenma's either completely terrifed or he's completely uninterested, because he's curled up in a ball, staring at his hands.

"Kenma, don't you work today?" Bokuto asks as Kuroo rushes past him. He hears Kenma says something to Kuroo, and Kuroo stops and backs up, imitating the beeping sounds of a large truck backing up.

"I do."

"Is this considered working cause if it is I want to work here forever."

"Strictly, it's not. But if you look at it from a different perspective, I'm merely helping satisfy a customer." Kenma says, still avoiding eye contact, and playing with his hands.

"Yeah Bokuto. Can't you see I'm unsatisfied with the service I'm getting?" Kuroo fake grimaces. 

"Oh damn, yes. Kenma how dare you mistreat this customer so?"

"He started it." Kenma mutters. Kuroo makes a sound Bokuto assumes is supposed to emulate that of an engine starting, and then starts running around again. When Kuroo comes back 4 minutes later, he stops and looks at Bokuto.

"Dude, are you okay? Cause like, you should be jumping into this go-cart of fun, but you've just been reading that magazine, man."

"Actually, I've been waiting for you to take your hands off the handle." Bokuto says, and Kuroo's hands shoot off the handle.

"What for?" Kuroo asks, looking at the handle suspiciously. 

"THIS." Bokuto yells, lunging at Kuroo and picking him up, and dumping him in the cart.

"I KEEP FORGETTING YOU CAN PICK ME UP, I'VE LIVED WITH YOU FOR 2 YEARS, HOW CAN I FORGET THAT?!" Kuroo screams once Bokuto starts pushing the cart through the store.

"He picks me up practically everytime he sees me." Kenma says, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, but, anyone could do that. You're so small." Kuroo argues. Kenma shrugs. Bokuto slows down to walking speed.

"Pretty much. Its easier to pick you up rather than Kuroo." Bokuto says, and Kuroo grins.

"See, Kenma. You're the perfect person to give piggyback rides to." Kuroo laughs.

They're kicked out of the store by Kenma a few minutes later, because Kenma got bored, and they had what they needed.

"Who's driving, me or you?" Kuroo asks, leaning on the hood of the car.

"I'll do it." Bokuto blurts, and unlocks the car. Kuroo gets in and immediately shoves in one of Akaashi's CDs. Because Kuroo never believes any rumors about Akaashi unless, to quote, "Akaashi himself says it." Kuroo is really the greatest fan someone could ask for.

On the way back, Bokuto somehow manages to find fine details in Akaashi's voice that would set his voice apart from others. He's got a list of 11 things, before he absentmindedly rear ends a car parked near his usual spot. It's a Visitor spot. 

Of course. He parks in his normal spot, which also states his apartment number. When he gets out and assesses the damage to both cars, he's pretty sure the owner of the car will come to find in his apartment. Its not a mystery when the cars black paint is chipped off onto Bokuto's front bumper. The thing is, the car looks brand new. Bokuto hopes it isn't. Kuroo laughs at him all the way up the stairs to the apartment.

"Shut up, dude." Bokuto huffs, kicking Kuroo in the shin. Kuroo winces.

"At least I didn't crash my car." Bokuto grins. Kuroo clutches his chest as he shuts the door behind him.

"That hurts, Bo. Hurts me right here." Kuroo says, fake sniffling and sobbing.

"Kuroo, turn on the TV." Bokuto yawns, walking over to the couch. Kuroo obeys, and sits in the recliner. Nothing's on TV, so Kuroo switches it to the news. Nothing terribly important. Then, within seconds the story changes, and its talking about how Akaashi actually DID cancel his concert, and no one knows what he's doing. Kuroo rolls his eyes.

"Akaashi's a human being too, scumbags." Kuroo mutters, picking up his phone.

"Who are you calling, dude?" Bokuto asks, sitting up off the couch.

"I'm ordering pizza, shh." Kuroo whispers, and then someone must answer because Kuroo gives a long drawn out hello. Bokuto thinks he hears someone knock, so he goes to check, and of course, no one. Could be the annoying kid next door. He continues to knock and then run off.

Bokuto walks around doing random things throughout the apartment because he's got too much energy to just sit around and watch TV. Much less the NEWS. 20 or so minutes later, the doorbell rings and Bokuto rushes to get it. It is not, in fact, anyone delivering pizza. It IS, in fact, Akaashi Keiji. The world-famous Akaashi Keiji. In a dumpy apartment complex. Bokuto just barely registers Kuroo's strangled noise of surprise, before Kuroo jumps up and starts cleaning.

"Sorry. You just... you gave me your address, and I was going to call, but my phone--"

"Your phone is overflowing with messages, probably!" Bokuto yells suddenly. Akaashi nods. Bokuto jumps and invites him in. 

"Also, I think you rear ended my car." Akaashi says, stepping in and looking over the apartment.

"Oh shit, that was you?" Bokuto says, slapping his hand on his forehead. Kuroo bursts out laughing.

"Yes. I bought the car yesterday." Kuroo's laughter gets even more intense at this.

"Uh, I can- do you need me to cover it?" Bokuto asks, and Kuroo collapses to the floor in his laughter.

"I could afford to buy thousands more of those things. I just bought it so no one would recognize my car if I went anywhere. You don't need to cover it." Akaashi says, looking at the TV, which is still playing the news story about Akaashi canceling his concert. Bokuto rushes to grab the remote, but Akaashi tells him to leave it. 

Bokuto watches and listens to Akaashi periodically point out and deny rumors. Some of them he doesn't comment on, which Bokuto guesses mean they're true, or that he just doesn't think they matter enough to disprove them. Eventually, Kuroo stops laughing and walks over to rest his arm on Bokuto's shoulder.

"This is like... some fantasy ass shit. Akaashi Keiji, is in our apartment, and you've just rear ended his car... Actually, wait, this- this sounds more like a porn film? Like, we could call it 'other types of rear ends' oh my god. Bokuto, write this shit down. This is gold." Kuroo laughs, and Bokuto sincerely hopes Akaashi can't hear him from halfway across the room.

"Do you think Akaashi's okay?" Bokuto mutters, and Kuroo stares at him.

"How the fuck do you manage to change the subject from porn films to Akaashi's feelings in like, 2 seconds." Kuroo huffs, and pulls his arm off Bokuto.

"I'm sure he's fine. He's probably tired of all this shit, and could probably use a couple extra hours of sleep." Kuroo tells him. Bokuto nods and watches Akaashi roll his eyes at the TV when they say something stupid about him again. Bokuto looks at the time. Nearly 8.

"Akaashi, do you need to stay over?"

\--------------

"Akaashi, do you need to stay over?" Bokuto blurts, and Akaashi jumps. Was Bokuto seriously asking?

"Ah, I just sort of... assumed I could. Sorry, I probably should've asked. I guess I assume a lot of things. Comes with being overly famous for so long. Sorry." Akaashi responds, and he nearly winces. He said sorry twice. Now he sounds dumb. Or maybe he just sounds apologetic? It'd be realy helpful if he could read minds. 

"No! It's fine! It would've been totally cool! You can stay over whenever you want! Hell, come over everyday, I don't mind!" Bokuto grins, and he sounds so overly happy, it makes Akaashi nauseous. How does one become as happy as Bokuto Koutarou. Akaashi manages a smile.

"Thank you, Bokuto. And thank you as well, Kuroo." Akaashi says, and Kuroo takes a deep breath before putting a finger up and running out of the room, before running back in.

"You're welcome." Kuroo squeaks. Kuroo was a great person, if not a little reckless, and a little obsessed with him. Akaashi could imagine Kuroo being an irreplaceable friend.

"Anytime!" Bokuto smiles, his hands on his hips. It's a bright completely honest, no other motives smile. Akaashi feels sick again. How can someone ACT like this? How is Bokuto not planning to do ANYTHING but make sure Akaashi's alright? Why didn't Bokuto sell his number, and why isn't Bokuto calling everyone he knows, telling them Akaashi Keiji is in his apartment? Bokuto was a sickeningly sweet mystery. That's what he is.

"Actually, can I just, can I sleep on the couch?" Akaashi asks, and the doorbell rings. Kuroo awkwardly gets the pizza.

"Akaashi, you can't possibly sleep on the couch!" Bokuto yells, making it seem like Akaashi's being dumb for wanting to sleep on the couch.

"No, I- It's... I haven't slept on a couch in years. I don't want a bed. I've slept on so many fancy and overly comfortable beds that I'd rather just, sleep on the couch. Is that weird?" Akaashi explains, and Bokuto just smiles.

"If that's what you want, it's not weird. I'll get you a blanket and a pillow!" 

Ugh.

Another thing. Akaashi is a little endeared by Bokuto's generosity, despite it being obnoxious. He doesn't want to have anything to do with it, but it's near impossible to refuse. Maybe Akaashi believes Bokuto would feel bad for not helping when he could. It seems impossible for Bokuto to be sad.

"Do you want pizza?" Kuroo asks, setting the pizza box on the coffee table in front of him, and kneeling down in front of the television.

"No, I can't, I have to--" Akaashi's stopped by a look from Kuroo that conveys a sort of knowing irritation. Kuroo goes back to looking through movies.

"I swear, if you won't eat the pizza because you have a 'diet' or because it'll 'give you acne' I'm rubbing that entire pizza on your face while you sleep. If you want it, HAVE it." Kuroo mutters, and Akaashi tries to decide whether he actually wants any or if he's just intimidated by Kuroo. He goes with the former, and eventually has some. 

"Where's Bokuto? I thought he was getting a blanket?" Akaashi asks. Kuroo chuckles.

"He's trying to find the best blanket and pillow to give you." Kuroo tells him.

"Why?"

"He wants to impress you, I think. I would, too. Hell, I'm replaying my pizza comment a second ago, wondering if I just ruined any chance of us being friends."

"You didn't. Don't worry." Akaashi sighs. He'll just have to live with being treated like some idol, and not just a person. Bokuto walks in and throws the things on Akaashi, which DOES catch Akaashi off guard, but sort of pleases him. Bokuto sits on the end of the couch opposite Akaashi. He and Kuroo argue over what movie to watch. Akaashi finds enough entertainment in the large and animated gestures Bokuto makes when he's talking.

It reminds him of a director or something. Eventually, Kuroo wins the argument, and turns on a romance movie Akaashi's seen once or twice. Not one of his favorites, but its nice. When Akaashi next looks over at Bokuto, he's looking at his phone in boredom.

"Bokuto."

"Eh?" He looks over, uninterested.

"You aren't going to watch? It's a pretty good movie."

"I- no, I'm- I'm watching! Kuroo just- he plays this movie a lot!" Bokuto blurts, turning off his phone and setting it on the endtable, and then putting his hands up in a sort of surrender.

"He's not wrong." Kuroo says, eyes still trained on the screen. Bokuto grins.

"See?" Bokuto says quietly. Akaashi then realizes how loud Bokuto usually is.

"I see." Akaashi responds, looking back at the screen. He pulls the blanket up over him, and leans against the arm of the couch. Kuroo laughs at one of the lines in the movie, and Bokuto curls his legs up into him, and this gives Akaashi more room, which he takes. Bokuto notices this.

"Hey, hey, what if I wanted to go back to how I was sitting!"

"You could ask. I'll move. But for NOW, I'm gladly taking the space." Akaashi tells him. Bokuto shrugs in agreement. Akaashi starts to get tired halfway through the movie, and then all of a sudden, he's completely awake and it's cloudy and bright outside.

Is it bad that he slept better on the couch in his clothes, than on any of the luxurious beds he's been handed on a silver platter? Is it bad that he doesn't still feel tired? He hasn't been rested in what is most likely years. When he manages to sit up, Bokuto's in the kitchen, doing what appears to be cleaning.

"Are you cleaning because you want--" Akaashi yawns mid-sentence, and Bokuto jumps, looking back at him.

"Are you cleaning because you want to impress me?" Akaashi asks, absentmindedly.

"Nah, I just didn't have anything to do. Just because you're famous doesn't mean you get special treatment." Bokuto smiles, putting his hands on his hips.

"What about getting me the best blankets?"

"I wasn't- um, I wasn't getting you the best blankets, I was getting you the cleanest ones. Kuroo doesn't really ever do laundry so, I had to dig around to find some actual clean ones! And that's just good guest manners!"

"Oh. Sorry for thinking that." Akaashi mutters, leaning back against the couch.

"What time is it?" Akaashi asks, looking back at Bokuto, who spins around, then looks back at Akaashi.

"1:22." Bokuto grins.

"How long did I sleep?" Akaashi asks, standing up.

"Uh, well you fell asleep near the end of the movie last night, and the movie ended at maybe... 10? So I'd say... 14-15 hours?"

"Holy shit, you're kidding."

"No, why?"

"I don't think- I haven't slept that long since before I moved out of my parents house, good god."

"AKAASHI! That's TERRIBLE! A good night's sleep is important!" Bokuto says, sounding a little angry.

"But I guess... Since I won't be working every day now, I can actually sleep like a regular person?" Akaashi looks over at Bokuto, who gives him a thumbs up, and continues cleaning. Akaashi sighs, and walks over to put on his shoes and open the front door.

"Hey, wait! Where are you going?" Bokuto asks, hurriedly putting on shoes and a coat as well.

"Where's Kuroo?" Akaashi asks, looking down the stairs at the empty space besides his car.

"He's at work." Bokuto states, closing the apartment door behind him, and then rushing down the stairs after Akaashi.

"Well then. Let's give his work a little visit. Where does he work?"

"He works at a pet store. Next to where Kenma works." Bokuto shrugs, and gets in the passenger seat of Akaashi's car, once Akaashi's unlocked it, and climbed in.

"Well, give me directions. I don't know who Kenma is, besides he's one of your friends, so I can't possibly know where he works."

"Ah, sorry, I was distracted. You look a lot nicer when you're rested. Everyone does, though. Sort of a thing. People always look better when they're rested. Yeah. Uh, right, sorry. Leave the parking area and take a right. Continue down that road until you see a little shopping center. It's only a minute or two from here." Bokuto responds, and Akaashi nods, driving out of the parking area, and taking a right, just as Bokuto told him. 

They get there 4 minutes later, and Akaashi puts his hands in the pockets of his jacket as he walks in. It smells like bird and dog food. Bokuto makes a sound and runs off to the birds. Barely a minute later, Kuroo rushes over to Akaashi.

"You're lucky its not busy right now, cause like, everyone would want autographs and then where would we be." Kuroo laughs, and takes a deep breath.

"Okay, but serious, I need you to meet Kenma, so let's go, go, go. I have a 5 minute break." Kuroo says, bringing his arms up a bit and curling his hands into fists. He then breaks out into a run out the door. Akaashi rolls his eyes and jogs after him. Kuroo is at the door of the grocery store, yelling Kenma's name overly loudly and repetitively. Every cashier and customer is looking at Kuroo, and consequentially, Akaashi. 

Akaashi hears a sort of collective gasp followed by mutters. Kenma appears a minute later, and the first thing he does is punch Kuroo in the gut. Obviously not hard, but he DOES punch him. The second thing he does is introduce himself to Akaashi, and he does it so casually, as if he meets world famous celebrities often. 

"Kenmaaaa, you're supposed to freak out! I can never surprise you!" Kuroo whines, and Kenma rolls his eyes.

"That's because I know you've been trying to surprise me for years. And because usually when you yell for me throughout an entire store, you have something to show me." Kenma sighs.

"Aw fuck, I gotta rework my surprise methods." Kuroo groans, and then jumps. 

"JESUS SHIT I FORGOT I ONLY HAD 5 MINUTES!" Kuroo yells, running back out the door. Akaashi and Kenma watch him run away.

"It really is nice to meet you, though." Kenma mutters.

"Same to you, Kenma. Any friend of Bokuto or Kuroo is a friend of mine." Kenma smiles at this. Of course, Kenma's quickly called away from Akaashi, and Bokuto finds Akaashi. Akaashi finds himself walking beside Bokuto, looking at the different shops in the shopping center.

"I haven't actually bought clothing from a clothing store since I first started singing. Just tailors and things." Akaashi admits, and Bokuto gasps. Akaashi figures that means some sort of activity Akaashi will dread but end up liking anyway. It's actually pretty nice to watch Bokuto get so fired up about something.

"Well, let's make today the day where you do things you haven't done in years! You already got to sleep in! Let's get you clothes from a regular old store, and go do whatever you want!" Bokuto says, and he exudes pure excitement.

How can Akaashi refuse that?


	6. I just go slower

Akaashi is brought to multiple different stores around town, and given piles of clothes Bokuto thinks Akaashi would like. Bokuto usually forcefully rushes Akaashi to the dressing rooms, as though he won't make it there himself. Akaashi does try everything on, because at the first store, Bokuto had looked absolutely devastated when Akaashi hadn't wanted to put anything on.

Akaashi begrudgingly agreed. Well, sort of. He figured Bokuto would be happier if he did, and Bokuto seems like the type of person who should be kept happy, because there's no in-between his happiness and sadness. Plus, it's oddly satisfying to have someone be happy to be doing something with Akaashi that isn't singing. 

The only downside is, so many people have recognized him and asked for autographs or pictures, and so many people have taken pictures of him either way. He imagines it'll soon be a headline, 'Akaashi Keiji Cancels Concert For What?!'.

"Akaashi, no! This is a happy outfit, and you look like you've got a headache!" Bokuto grins, and Akaashi nods.

"I know." Akaashi sighs, and goes back in the dressing room to change back into his old clothes. Akaashi hands the bewildered dressing room attendant the clothes he won't be buying. Which is all of it. Bokuto huffs.

"Well, you seem tired of clothes, but we still have a couple hours! What do you want to do now? You get to pick!"

"Can I get coffee or do you not like coffee?" Akaashi asks in response.

"Akaashi, you get to do what you want today! It doesn't matter whether or not I like coffee!" Bokuto laughs.

"Fine, then let's get coffee." Akaashi says, walking out of the door and heading to the car. He doesn't know how Bokuto would react to coffee. Would he just, get more hyper? Maybe the boost from the coffee would cancel out some of his energy, who knows. Akaashi lets Bokuto drive, because Bokuto says he has a certain place in mind. 

Bokuto starts staring at the car next to him at the stoplight a minute later.

"You're going to creep them out, Bokuto."

"Can you not hear it? They're playing your songs!" Bokuto says. Akaashi quiets down, and he can barely make out one of his least favorite songs.

"Yeah, that's- definitely one of mine." Akaashi says, and then Bokuto starts viciously moving around and knocking on the window until the person looks over. Bokuto rolls down the window, and tells Akaashi to say hello.

Akaashi rolls his eyes, but leans over to give a small wave. The person just looks at him in shock, before rolling down their window as well. The music is a lot louder now.

"THAT'S MY LEAST FAVORITE SONG." Akaashi yells, and Bokuto starts driving, leaving the other driver in complete shock. Akaashi leans back in his seat, and smiles a bit.

"What?" Bokuto asks absentmindedly.

"Ah, it's nothing. That was fun." Akaashi says truthfully.

"Good! You should be having fun 24/7! You deserve it, you've been working nonstop for years! I don't even mind that I hate coffee. We're gonna get you coffee anyway!" 

Bokuto really is stupidly honest sometimes. Akaashi doesn't know whether or not he's endeared by it or not.

"Bokuto, are you treating me differently because I'm famous?"

"Didn't you ask me this already? I think you did. I don't know. But, uh, no! I'm not. In my mind you're like... just a regular person. Or, wait... you're like a regular businessman, and you got this job a couple years ago, thinking you'd get small piles of work every week, but instead you got like, 10 huge stacks every day, and whenever you got close to finishing, more would come, and now you finally have none, so you shouldn't have to do work for a while, because you finished. Does- Does that work?" Bokuto explains, and Akaashi laughs.

"You think of me as a businessman?"

"Yeah! A really pretty businessman! I just haven't been interested enough in celebrity stuff to think of you as famous." Bokuto states, his tone implying these are facts.

"You've really never been drawn into all of those dramatic headlines? You've really never heard any rumors?" Akaashi asks, and Bokuto takes a sharp turn, nearly running into a telephone pole.

"Nope! I think it's a little mean to pry into people's lives. Unless you're friends, or you're worried. And as for rumors, sure, I've heard some, but I rarely remember them, and I'm not going to go look them up." Bokuto tells him, turning into a mall parking lot, and parking.

"You really never heard anything about me?"

"Well, I mean, I DID, and I don't remember much, besides it involved some other singer. But I'm not going to care about it or believe it unless you tell me about it directly. Kuroo feels the same." Bokuto shrugs, getting out of the car, and skipping over to the mall entrance.

"It involved Sarukui Yamato. That part's true." Akaashi catches up to Bokuto in the building.

"At least I know you met this Yamato guy at some point. Doesn't matter to me." Bokuto shrugs. Akaashi's face gets all warm, and he's not sure if it's because Bokuto didn't actually ask more questions about it like everyone always does, or because Akaashi would've been embarrassed to talk about the subject anyway. Maybe.

"Ah, here!" Bokuto blurts, turning into a homey little coffee house.

\--------------

The first thing Bokuto hears when Akaashi walks into the coffee shop, is an unfamiliar voice yelling at Akaashi. He turns and determines the voice is coming from a good-looking silver haired man who is currently climbing over the couch.

"KEIJI!"

"Oh god, I thought you'd moved?" Akaashi asks.

"I did. Just, you know. Parents." The man puts a hand on the back of his head. He's got a beauty mark under his left eye, and he seems.... soft? Is that a thing? Can someone look soft? Like a cloud, or something. 

Hell if he knows. All he knows is Akaashi looks like a mountain, all thick dark lines, filled in with lots of natural colors, could be a volcano, who knows. 

Bokuto doesn't realize Akaashi is introducing him until halfway through it. He's just been staring at Akaashi.

"And Bokuto, this is Sugawara Koushi, I went to university with him." Akaashi says softly and then he excuses himself to go order something.

"So, how'd you meet him? I mean, isn't he super duper busy? You must've met him a while ago, before things got REALLY hectic." Sugawara smiles, one hand on the back of his neck, the other rested on his forearm.

"Well, actually I met him like, maybe 2 weeks ago? I don't know. Feels like months though. I was at a concert cause my roommate is terribly obsessed with him, and then I got lost cause I was looking for wifi and then Akaashi was sort of there and my wifi started working and I said captivating cause that's what describes Akaashi, and that's what happened."

"That sounds great! I met him when I was taking an art class, and he was sitting next to me, and he kept telling me about how he needed a piano player to make this song he thought of, and if I knew any piano players. I played piano so. You could think of it like I saw his first performance. Before he got famous and everyone started making up stories about him." He explains, and Bokuto grins.

"Yeah? Does he sound different now than he did then?"

"Oh, sure. A lot different. His music was a lot more classical and softer back then. Do you know if he still plays violin? You might be able to get him to show you one of the old ones!" Suga crosses his arms. Akaashi comes back with a drink. 

"Akaashi, you played violin?" Bokuto asks, and Sugawara smiles.

"I played terribly, I don't know what lies he's feeding you."

"You did NOT!" Suga laughs. Akaashi smiles.

"Why are you asking?" Akaashi looks back at Bokuto his smile dulling.

"He said you had a lot of old songs. Never recorded." Bokuto tells him, and Akaashi sighs.

"I did. I only remember one and that was--"

"Wait, let me guess! Is it... Carnation Point?" Sugawara interrupts him. Akaashi sighs, and nods.

"Why'd you guess that one?"

"Because I remember you caused me to fall asleep in class a few times because we'd practiced it for hours on end. I don't know why you never recorded that one. It was my very favorite." Suga says, a little sadly.

"I guess I'll have to try and record it soon." Akaashi smiles, and Bokuto is tempted to run around the coffee shop seven times, because Akaashi Keiji is freaking adorable, and he never genuinely smiles like that, he wants to have the picture of Akaashi smiling like that seared into his mind.

"Yeah, then you can show Bokuto here!"

"Of course I'd let him hear it."

Bokuto is now VERY VERY tempted to run around the coffee shop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this chapter is short, I didn't write yesterday and I'm hella tired.


	7. Better slow it down

This is quite possibly the biggest house Bokuto's ever been in. Actually, it is the biggest house. No competition. 

"You and Kuroo, can stay in whatever room you want, I don't care." Akaashi shrugs. Kuroo starts slapping Bokuto's arm.

"What the fuuuuuck!" Kuroo mutters, continuing to hit Bokuto. What the fuck indeed.

See, after heading to a few more stores, and picking up Kuroo, Akaashi had invited them to his house, because it seemed only fair that they should stay a night at his, if he stayed a night at theirs. Of course, it would've been a 7 hour drive. So, Akaashi had just, called a jet. It was apparently his, but he rarely used it. He usually just bought two first class seats and used them both on a public plane.

"Kuroo, we have to take pictures, because no one will ever believe us."

"NO ONE WILL BELIEVE US ANYWAY!" Kuroo yells happily.

"True, but seriously man, when else are we gonna be in a house this fancy." 

"I guess." 

"AKAASHI, CAN WE TAKE PICTURES OF YOUR HOUSE?!" Bokuto yells, and Akaashi walks in from the other room and leans against the doorway.

"Why are you asking? It's a house." Akaashi nods. Kuroo immediately pulls out his phone and starts taking a video.

"LOOK AT THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE!" Kuroo yells, and Akaashi sighs.

"Akaashi?" Bokuto inquires, staring at the large marble staircase Kuroo is ogling at.

"Yes?"

"Why do all famous or rich people seem to have planes and houses that are too big? Or, is that just a TV thing? I mean, you have a plane and a really huge house, but I suppose some people don't really use their money like that, maybe." Bokuto asks, and Akaashi shrugs.

"I got the jet because I needed to have a plane on standby if I needed to go somewhere quickly, and that's the only reason I have that. As for the house, I bought it outright, so I could give it to my parents or something. Of course, they haven't really spoken to me for a while, so I haven't exactly mentioned I have a giant fucking house to give them. I've been staying in hotels for the last 3 months or so. Haven't been here for a bit."

"Why haven't they- wait, if you were just going to give the house away, where would you live?" Bokuto comments, and Akaashi steps over.

"Bokuto. Do I look like the sort of person who'd buy and live in a monstrous house just to keep up appearances?"

"I'm going with a solid no."

"You'd be correct." Akaashi pats Bokuto's shoulder and heads off up the stairs. Bokuto rushes up the stairs to go find Kuroo, and finds him a minute later out on a balcony, talking to Kenma on the phone.

"KENMA, NO- KENMA. IT'S JUST LIKE MY BOOKS! IT'S- I know. Okay. Sure. Why are you bringing this up at such a crucial point in my life. WHY, KENMA, WHY?" Bokuto manages to hear, before Kuroo notices and hangs up.

"I swear to god man, I'm gonna kill you." Kuroo walks back inside, and Bokuto laughs.

"It's JUST like your books, dude." Bokuto puts his hands on his hips.

"DUDE. DON'T JUDGE ME." Kuroo says, fake sobbing. Akaashi calls Bokuto a moment later.

"Yes, hello, this Bokuto Koutarou, destroyer of Kuroo Tetsurou's dreams." Bokuto answers, and Kuroo yells at him.

"Do you two want to come with me to a sort of black tie thing tomorrow morning, because its too early for my pilot to bring you home, and I'd rather not leave Kuroo in the house, as much as I trust you. He'd probably end up stealing silverware or something." Akaashi asks.

"Kuroo, do you want to be fancified and go to a thing in the morning? Akaashi doesn't want you steal silverware." 

"Those are two completely different subjects, and I can understand the silverware thing. It sounds likely. But, yeah. I'm up for fancy shit."

"Yeah, we're good for--"

"You think someone can fix my hair?" Kuroo asks loudly.

"Kuroo wants to know if someone can fix his hair first, though." Bokuto tells Akaashi.

"Wait, is his hair just, naturally like that?" Akaashi sounds surprised.

"Yeah." Bokuto laughs.

"I thought he just styled it like that, like he was purposefully messing it up but that's just, unfortunate. But, that aside, I have to get you two suits and shit anyway, so I guess I could get his hair done also. Think of it as repayment for you taking me around to all the different stores. You'll both have to get up slightly earlier."

"When would that be?"

"I'm going to say you'll have to get up at 7."

"Alright." Bokuto replies, and Akaashi thanks him and hangs up.

"They'll fix your hair, man. We have to get up at 7."

"Nice. I'll-- SHIT I HAVE TO CALL WORK." Kuroo digs his phone out and immediately calls the pet store.

Bokuto starts wondering why Akaashi hasn't spoken to his parents in a while, but the only thing he can come up with is that it's got something to do with these rumors. It'll stick in the back of his mind for days, probably. The next half an hour is spent with them getting lost, and then getting UN-lost. And with all of the nice beds available, Bokuto falls asleep on a sofa in a big open space. Kuroo had left to find a bed halfway through the night, apparently. Or, that's what Kuroo tells him when he wakes him up.

"Dude, Akaashi bought like 20 different suits so at least one would fit each of us. Also, we have to go get shit done to us, I think." Kuroo yawns. Bokuto jumps up off the couch.

"Okay, yeah. Shit man, let's go." Bokuto says, and as soon as he's down the stairs, he's pulled aside by like, 4 people, who have 0 regard for personal space. He just barely catches someone doing the same thing to Kuroo. 

And thus, starts an hour of hell, or heaven, depending on whether you ask Bokuto or Kuroo.

\----------

Akaashi isn't impatient, he just doesn't like it when people point out what should be fixed on his face, or what he should wear to make him look thinner. So, most of the times he has to go to these events, he just tunes out whatever these people are saying, and entertains himself with changing the lyrics in his songs to completely absurd things he's heard people say at his concerts.

He's done in an hour or two, and he is told Bokuto and Kuroo are almost done, so he unties and reties the rose patterned tie he's wearing, trying to figure out how to put 'I hate bread' into a song of his. He's startled out of it by Bokuto punching him on the shoulder. Not hard or anything, but it's an odd gesture, or maybe it's just odd to Akaashi.

"Bokuto, what was that even for?" Akaashi asks, noting that the dark purple tie they matched with his suit perfectly complements the seemingly gold spots in his eyes. He also, less noticeably, notes how he looks in said suit.

"It was because you look nice." Bokuto grins.

"Do you always punch people in the arm when they look nice?" 

"Maybe. You just look captivating. See, I used the word again. Because it's true." Bokuto tells him, staring off into space. He either doesn't realize what he said, or he just REALLY means it, and expects Akaashi to accept it instantaneously. Akaashi does accept it, but he's not sure whether or not he should return the compliment, because it's been a minute or so, and it'd most likely just sound awkward.

Why is Akaashi thinking of a normal conversation as if it's an interview?

"You're pretty personable as well, Bokuto. Don't discount yourself." Akaashi mutters, and Bokuto smiles and waits a second before looking over.

"I think that was a compliment, but what does personable mean?" Bokuto asks.

"It means, uh, likable? Attractive in both appearance and manner." Akaashi mutters, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Wow! You really think I'm personable, Akaashi?" Bokuto asks, and he's got such an oddly charming genuine smile.

"BO THEY FIXED MY FUCKING HAIR LOOKIT." Kuroo yells, and Bokuto's attention snaps to Kuroo.

Kuroo's hair is in fact, a lot tamer, and it's parted to the right, and it looks a little unnatural on him, but it does greatly improve the view of his face.

"Nice!" Bokuto rushes over to touch it but he obviously realizes that's not the best thing to do in this situation.

"Akaashi, when are we leaving?" Bokuto asks a little quietly. Well, less loudly.

"In a minute. And after this, I'll bring you two back home, because the pilot will probably be ready then." Akaashi tells them.

"Uh, you mean we'll be flying home in these fancy ass suits? What about our other clothes?" Kuroo asks, playing with the dark red tie he's got on.

"I'll have them brought with, obviously. A warning for this gala though. If you come with me, you'll likely be bombarded with questions about me, or even interviewed, maybe. I'd appreciate if you wouldn't answer any of these questions." Akaashi sighs, and Bokuto puts his hands on his hips and nods solemnly.

"I promise I won't answer any questions unless I'm given permission." Bokuto states, matter-of-factly.

"I too, swear to keep the great Akaashi's secrets secret." Kuroo adds. Akaashi grins, and then a car honks outside.

"Ah, let's go." Akaashi mutters, walking towards the front door.

"Coming!" Bokuto yells, running after Akaashi. Kuroo trails after him, slightly slower.

The entire ride is spent in almost complete silence, besides Bokuto talking to himself about what different words mean, and Kuroo humming different songs. When they pull up to the building, Akaashi climbs out tentatively, and is met with a lot of cameras and microphones. And a lot of people screaming questions along the lines of 'Akaashi, why did you cancel at the last minute?' Or 'Akaashi, do you confirm or deny the rumor that you fired your consultant in anger?' 

And his new favorite, which would be silence as Bokuto and Kuroo crawl out of the car completely ungracefully, followed by a barrage of questions about them.

"Just follow me, alright?" Akaashi yells over the crowd, grabbing Bokuto's hand, and walking over to the door, Bokuto looking completely stunned behind him.

"Akaashi am I gonna be on a magazine?" Bokuto asks once Akaashi lets his hand go, and gets through the door,shutting it hard behind them. Kuroo looks amazed at the hallway leading to the actual thing.

"I don't know, maybe the tabloids. The tabloids have some personal vendetta against me."

"That's still pretty cool, though." Bokuto recovers from his shock, unlike Kuroo, who is looking at his hands as if he's rethinking his entire life.

"Sure, I guess." Akaashi shrugs, motioning for Bokuto to go through the door. Akaashi is let in immediately, but he does have to explain the 2 guests, and why one of them is staring at the ceiling in awe.

"Your three seats will be... let me see, 17, 18, and 19. But you won't be seated for quite a while, Mr. Akaashi." The man grins, and Akaashi thanks him, walking into the crowd, with Kuroo and Bokuto following closely behind. He vaguely hears Kuroo gasp, and Akaashi looks back to find Kuroo in near-tears.

"Akaashi, is that fucking Hanamaki?"

"Of course. If you ever wanted to meet any famous celebrities, this is probably the place." Akaashi tells Kuroo.

"I think I'm good with just meeting you, Akaashi." Bokuto says, eyes rifling through the crowd as if they were just strangers. Akaashi feels nauseous again. How the fuck is Bokuto such a great person? Surely he has SOME other motive.

"Uh, I can introduce you if you'd like, Kuroo?"

"No, I- I think I'm good." Kuroo stops and Bokuto and Akaashi both stop as well. 

"Well I hope you two DO realize I'm the most recognized and most desired person in this building currently, so if you continue hanging around me, you'll meet these people anyway. Everyone is always interested in a collaboration with me." Akaashi states. Bokuto shrugs. Kuroo drags his hands over his face.

"I'm going to die here. I'm going to be introduced to a bunch of celebrities, and I'll just have a heart attack and DIE." Kuroo responds.

"You're not going to die, Kuroo. Just act as if it's someone you know. Maybe Bokuto. Maybe your mother? You'll be fine." Akaashi huffs, and Bokuto grabs Akaashi's hand, squeezing it a bit before pointing with his other hand.

"Isn't that, uh, what's his name... oh, Sarukui Yamato?" Bokuto asks, looking back over at Akaashi. Akaashi is going to puke, Bokuto is so sickeningly thoughtful.

"Oh! Yes, it is. There's nothing bad between us, Bokuto. We were good friends, and we just haven't kept contact well. That's all." Akaashi explains. It's sort of the truth. They were good friends, and Akaashi tried to keep contact, but Sarakui did not. Bokuto squeezes Akaashi's hand again before letting it go.

"If you say so." Bokuto smiles, and Akaashi coughs. Bokuto looks over with confusion.

"I'm not sick, sorry. Just, I have something stuck in my throat."

"Good, that would be bad."

Ergh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YOURE ALL GREAT AND I LOVE YOU.
> 
> Good Intent - Kimbra
> 
> Fyi: I may not update for a few days because of work and you know...
> 
> SHOUTOUT TO ANYONE WHO BOOKMARKED THIS AND ANYONE WHOS EVER COMMENTED


	8. Don't need you seeing

Nearing the end of the gala, when everyone is sitting down, and talking, it gets a little loud, and Akaashi just listens to other people's boring conversations about how the weather looks bad. It's as if that's all they know how to talk about. Bokuto is leaning on the table, his chin resting on his forearms.

"Bokuto, don't do that." Akaashi sighs, and he sits up.

"Sorry. When are we leaving?" Bokuto asks.

"In a while." Akaashi says as people stand up and leave the table. Akaashi raises an eyebrow in confusion when Bokuto starts glaring behind him.

"Bokuto, what are you doing? You'll scare someone."

"Ah, sorry. Just Sarakui."

"I already told you he never did anything wrong, Bokuto." Akaashi huffs, leaning back in his chair.

"Yeah, but I don't know what he did the first time, so I might as well stay alert!"

"Bokuto. All he did was respond and deny- very respectfully, may I add -some rumors that had been going around." 

"The rumors you don't want me to know about?" Bokuto asks, and Akaashi taps his fingers on the table.

"If you really want to know, Sarakui and I had been working on a project together, which we did finish, but that's beside the point. And it just so happened that a lot of pictures were taken, and there was a lot of speculation that we were dating, which we were not. Nonetheless, it blew up, and people were throwing fits, and a lot of things. Sarakui respectfully denied the rumors, stating he didn't feel that way towards me, or any men." Akaashi explains, crossing his arms.

"They asked me for a statement, and I told them I didn't love Sarakui, nor was I dating him. The rumor died down pretty quickly after that, but not before both of our careers had been pretty beat up. That's really all it was." 

"Oh. But- wait. I thought these rumors were still affecting you, though?" Bokuto inquires, staring at the table.

"Alright, well, they are. Because while Sarakui corrected everyone by telling them he wouldn't ever think of a man like that, I did not." Akaashi stands up out of his chair, looking around for Kuroo.

"And because you didn't say that, people think you're gay or something?" Bokuto asks, standing up and walking over.

"Exactly."

"Are you?"

"I'd rather not talk about it, or at least, not here." Akaashi says plainly, spotting Kuroo jumping and waving. Akaashi rushes over, and Bokuto runs past him to get to Kuroo first, and then he puts his hands on his hips, grinning like he just won a medal or something. Disgustingly endearing.

"Sorry, I was talking to Komi over there." Kuroo grins, before punching Bokuto in the chest. Akaashi starts to leave and Kuroo and Bokuto unconsciously follow.

"I can't believe you missed out on the chance to meet all these celebrities, Bokuto." Kuroo mutters.

"Hey, I just wanted to keep Akaashi company! He brought us, it would have been rude not to!" Bokuto yells, and Akaashi takes a deep breath because at least Bokuto had a reason for staying at MOST, 3 feet away from Akaashi at all times. 

Still, Akaashi doesn't really mind it. Which is almost disturbing to admit. Akaashi has never liked loud people, people who can't seem to fucking stop running around and moving, or people who have radically outgoing personalities. Unfortunately, Bokuto fit perfectly into all of those categories, and yet, Akaashi has no problem with his company.

Akaashi is pulled away from his thoughts by the flash of a camera as he walks out the door. Once he gets to the car, the driver asks how it went and Akaashi shrugs as Bokuto and Kuroo climb in next to him. And then they're headed toward Akaashi's plane.

Bokuto keeps drawing things in the fog on the car windows, and eventually he stops and asks Akaashi if he could play the violin for him.

"Bokuto, we're in a moving vehicle. And I don't have my violin with me." Akaashi argues.

"No, no, no. I meant, like, next time I see you! The next time you have your violin. I want to hear that song that you and the other guy used to play!"

"Carnation Point? Bokuto, I barely remember--"

"That's fine! Just play me what you do remember! I wanna hear it." Bokuto trails off near the end, looking back out the window.

"I'll try, I suppose. But it doesn't sound like my music now, just as a warning."

"That's okay, I haven't listened to too much of your songs anyway!"

"It's true. Even though he's determined to be your best friend, he hasn't listened to any more than like, 3 songs." Kuroo tells Akaashi, grinning.

"Heeeyyyy! It's only because I don't want Akaashi's talent to change my perspective on him! I'll be friends with someone for how they treat people, not how angelic their voice is." Bokuto states, staring Kuroo down.

"True." Kuroo mutters, nodding and looking out his window.

"Although, you do have a really nice voice Akaashi."

"So I've been told."

\--------

Once Bokuto's off the plane and back in his car, watching the plane leave again, along with Akaashi, he feels oddly sick.

"Damn, Kuroo, how long do you think it'll be before we see Akaashi again?" Bokuto asks, starting off toward the apartment.

"I don't know dude, but I highly doubt Akaashi will forget two asshats he invited to a formal party. Is that what you're worried about?"

"I guess. I just feel like I should hang out with Akaashi more often. It's nice. And if I don't see him for months, what then? What if I completely forget his favorite color? What if I forget what his favorite dog is? Cause then he'll come back and be like 'aw man green isn't my favorite color, gold is' and then I'll look terrible." Bokuto rants, and Kuroo laughs.

"Okay, I can understand what you're saying, but, seriously dude. He's not going to make fun of you if you forget what his favorite movie is or some shit, man." 

"Yeah, you're probably right."

"Plus, you have his number right?" Kuroo asks.

"SHIT DUDE I FORGOT TO ASK FOR THE NEW NUMBER!" Bokuto yells, and Kuroo jumps.

"Okay, look, he sort of... gave me the number? I thought you had it too. Maybe he gave it to ME because he probably knew you'd forget. Or just because he trusted me with his new number. Either way, it's pretty fucking great." Kuroo grins, and puts his feet up on the dashboard.

"Oh, yeah. Sounds great." Bokuto says, but his mouth feels dry and he feels even more sick all of a sudden.

"Are you okay, man?" Kuroo inquires, looking over.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It just seems odd to me that you have his number first. It's cool though."

"Oh. Is that... is that all?" Kuroo asks, somewhat nervously. He's never been terribly good when it comes to comforting people. He's great with giving fantastic romance advice that everyone but himself listens to.

"Yeah, it's cool. No worries."

"Alright well, let's go see a movie or something and pretend we're famous." 

"We got kicked out last time." Bokuto laughs. Kuroo huffs.

"You got me there. Well, what do you want to do, because I've got no idea besides inviting Kenma over to play games and shit."

"Ooh, let's go swimming."

"Dude, why- why do you want to go swimming? It's cold out today. Plus, I've never ever heard you mention anything about swimming before." Kuroo mutters, and Bokuto purses his lips.

"So you vote no on swimming?"

"I vote no." Kuroo shrugs, looking out at the road.

"How about going to a park?" Bokuto suggests.

"Bokuto, it's cold out." Kuroo responds, pulling out his phone, and texting someone.

"Kuroo, since you're so obsessed with Akaashi, what did you hear about the rumors with Sarakui? Because Akaashi told me what had happened, but I was wondering what the entire media thought happened." Kuroo laughs at Bokuto for the question.

"It's easy enough to find out. But, uh, everyone was SURE Sarakui and Akaashi were dating, and the media made a big deal about it, and when Sarakui addressed the problem and told them they weren't dating, that blew up and they made it sound like he was just denying it." Kuroo looks over to make sure Bokuto is still listening. 

"But then they asked Akaashi and he said the same thing so they sort of gave up, but Sarakui said something that Akaashi didn't, and that thing ended up implying Akaashi wasn't straight, and that blew SO out of proportion for a short time, but it was really just to put the rumor out with a bang I guess. It ended soon after." Kuroo shrugs.

"Jesus, who does that sort of thing? Who starts rumors like that anyway?"

"Losers, Bokuto. Losers start rumors like that."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whenever I write I always just want to skip to the end... but this is not the end........
> 
> I thought this chapter was long and then I posted it... This isn't long what am I doing here


	9. Everytime I come around

Bokuto was right in worrying when the next time he'd see Akaashi was. Kuroo had assured him it probably wouldn't be more than a month, but it's officially been 2 months. Of course, it's not like Akaashi hasn't been talking to him. He's texting Akaashi now even, but it's a dull conversation. The sort you have when you haven't seen someone in forever and you don't know what to say, really.

And when Bokuto had asked why it wasn't possible for Akaashi to visit, Akaashi had explained that while he wasn't actively singing and performing, he did have some work every once in a while. 

To: A. K.  
alright but like 

To: A. K.  
what if i visited you instead of you visiting me

From: A. K.  
Bokuto, you asked me this last week. 

To: A. K.  
yes but has anything changed

From: A. K.  
Nothing's changed. Bokuto, I'll tell you when I can see you again, alright?

To: A. K.  
yeah okay

To: A. K.  
but it seems weird that you should still have to work on your break thing

From: A. K.  
I'm just finishing some things, I swear I'll be done within the month. Don't worry.

To: A. K.  
im not im just super bored

From: A. K.  
Then ask Kuroo to do something with you.

To: A. K.  
nooo i think he gets irritated when i talk about you

From: A. K.  
How often do you talk about me, then? Just don't talk about me, that could help.

To: A. K.  
i talk about you all the time

And then, when Akaashi doesn't respond for 10 minutes, Bokuto assumes he's busy. Kuroo runs into the room, and nearly trips on the carpet.

"DUDE, OKAY SO, KENMA GOT TICKETS TO HIS THING FINALLY AND WANTS TO TAKE ME BECAUSE HE WANTS ME TO LISTEN TO THEIR MUSIC, BUT WHATEVER THAT'S NOT THE POINT, HE GOT TICKETS TO THE WRONG CITY AND WE HAVE TO TAKE HIM."

"Wait, when?" Bokuto stands up and takes a deep breath.

"Well, okay, don't- don't hurt me, but now. Like RIGHT now? I just forgot to tell you and it doesn't- I mean, ha, I even forgot completely until just now when Kenma asked whether we were gonna be on time on not, dude." Kuroo trails off toward the end, and he sort of shrinks himself down as if Bokuto will punch him.

Bokuto's pretty sure he's never given Kuroo anything more than a friendly punch. Of course, half of the time, Kuroo gets bruises anyway.

"Dude, I'm not going to hurt you."

"Oh. Alright well, let's go, I've got the keys. Grab a snack or something." Kuroo grins, straightening his back and rushing out the door. Bokuto grabs a jacket, and runs out to the car.

It isn't until Kenma's in the car and Bokuto's started getting bored that Bokuto asks how long it'll be till they get there.

"3 to 4 hours. Depending on traffic." Kenma states, staring out the window.

"I WAS NOT MADE AWARE THIS WAS A ROAD TRIP I WOULD'VE PACKED MY ROAD TRIP MUSIC WHAT THE FUCK KUROO." Bokuto punches Kuroo in the leg.

"This is why I didn't let you drive. Cause you would've crashed when you heard the news."

"Man, I cannot BELIEVE this."

"If it helps, the CDs we do have in the car are mostly Akaashi, so if you just put one in, we can like, marathon every song." Kuroo says, and Kenma chuckles.

"Why are you both so obsessed with Akaashi, he's just a regular person." Kenma laughs, drawing on the back of his hand with a pen from somewhere in the car, probably.

"I know he's just a regular person, but he's a regular person who doesn't get enough positive attention. So, I give him positive attention. He sure as hell deserves it." Bokuto responds, sticking a CD in. Kuroo shrugs.

"His music is pretty good. I like how he works. And of COURSE, he's a regular person. Plus there was this one time I was listening to covers of opera and Akaashi has one or two songs he's covered, and I was like, wowza this is good." Kuroo explains, and Bokuto glances over at him.

"First off, you listen to opera, AND read romance novels? How have I never learned these things... SECONDLY, what song is it, I wanna hear." Bokuto asks, and Kuroo looks like he's about to die of embarrassment.

"Look, you don't know about these things because I'd rather just keep them to myself. But, uh, yeah, it was Una Furtiva Lagrima. He took some liberties with it, but it was still pretty well executed. I don't have it on CD, but you can use your phone, right?"

"Do I have to listen?" Kenma sighs, and Kuroo nods sternly.

"Wait, okay. Just a second." Bokuto says, trying to figure out which car cord is which. You'd think that owning this car for a few years, he'd know the cords from each other, but no. He doesn't.

And when he does have the right cord, he has the volume up way too loud, and so Kuroo steers with his elbows for a few seconds because his hands are over his ears. He gets the volume down, eventually.

"Sorry, what was the name again?" 

"Una Furtiva Lagrima."

"Okay, wait, heeeeeerrrrrree we go." Bokuto says, attempting to play it. It finally loads after a second, and the sound quality is terrible, but who cares. Not Bokuto.

"Yeah, the only time he ever sung it and had it recorded was when someone at a concert asked him to sing it, and he agreed. So, the best quality you can find is videos FROM that very concert." Kuroo whispers. Bokuto nods, still listening to the intro. And while Bokuto has grown somewhat fond of Akaashi regular basic singing voice, and his angelic speaking voice, this is completely different.

It sort of makes his other music seem more bland, like he's just speaking instead of singing. Maybe this is more like what Akaashi wanted to sing in the first place. If that was the case though, why would anyone EVER turn him down?

Maybe they didn't think he looked the part. But that's another insane notion, because Akaashi's gorgeous, he looks any part.

Bokuto's train of thought is derailed when Kuroo yells his name over the music.

"Sorry, what?"

"I was asking if you wanted to stop for anything, because now would be the time."

"Nah, man. What about Kenma?" Bokuto answers.

"I'm fine, just keep driving." Kenma mumbles.

"Alright, but if one of you starts whining about how they're hungry, you can't blame me."

\--------------------

Despite the fact he rarely has to work more than 12 hours a week and he probably gets more sleep than he has in years, Akaashi is still tired.

Maybe he's tired of having no one in this giant house to talk to. 

Of course, Bokuto does try his hardest to keep in touch with Akaashi, and it's annoyingly endearing. Akaashi will check his phone, and Bokuto will have sent him multiple messages asking about whether Akaashi likes the sky today, or if he has ever punched anyone. Random, completely uncorrelated questions.

Like now, Bokuto is telling Akaashi how Kenma had bought tickets to see his favorite band in the wrong city and they were in for a long drive, and so Akaashi should expect a lot of messages. Akaashi tells him not to waste his messages.

From: Bokuto.  
nah imma waste em 

To: Bokuto.  
Well, if you go over your limit, don't expect me to pay for it.

From: Bokuto.  
p sure kuroo would cover me plus i have money saved were good

To: Bokuto.  
Ah, well. Can't argue with that.

From: Bokuto.  
WE JUST PASSED A ROCK AND IT LOOKED LIKE A FISH NOT JOKING

And from then on, Akaashi turns off his phone, so he could read them later on. Preferably after the interview he's got later today when he'll likely be pretty tired of people.

Once he's dressed somewhat casually, he heads out to the studio that will be interviewing him. Akaashi contemplates why people keep interviewing him. Do they think that maybe they could be the ones who finally squeeze a secret out of him? They all ask the same questions. Whatever. He's only got this last interview and 3 meetings until he's COMPLETELY free of work until he feels comfortable enough to start up again.

And in all honesty, Akaashi doubts he'll ever feel comfortable with it again. Not after being coaxed and slightly forced into continuing to do it when he definitely didn't want to.

After he's seated in the studio, the two interviewers greet him and introduce themselves. Once that's over they announce their guest, Akaashi Keiji. After that it's all fairly routine. Akaashi's practiced it a thousand times. Answers to every question an interviewer could ever think of asking. It's depressing, actually. 

You'd think after so many of these things, Akaashi would actually say something new about himself. Maybe there's nothing that interesting to say about him.

"--do you think about it?" Akaashi hears, realizing he completely missed the question.

"Sorry, repeat that?" Akaashi apologizes and smiles.

"The subtle protest of your hiatus. What do you think of it?"

"I don't know, I was just tired of working. I was overworked, despite what people say. I'll take my own health and well-being over the unjust anger of a few people any day." Akaashi shrugs. That was unscripted. Off the path of what he's SUPPOSED to say. It feels somewhat nice.

"I see. Just a few more questions." The woman says, and Akaashi grins, nodding in understanding.

Each one he answers honestly, for once. It's the last interview he's got for god knows how long. And at this point, any backlash from the media won't affect him. He's not going to be back in the business anytime soon. And it's not like he'll need money anytime soon, he's covered for maybe 300 years.

Plus, the people interviewing him will likely be known as the ones who got Akaashi Keiji to tell the truth. Good publicity.

"And about recent activity with your fans?"

"Can you clarify that?"

"A few months ago, when you canceled your last concert, a lot of people claimed you were traveling around with a fan, or at least traveling around with a friend."

"Oh, yeah. I think you're talking about Bokuto. Yeah. I canceled the concert because, like I said, I was overworked and I thought it would be best to stop sooner rather than later. Bokuto isn't really a fan, though. I just sort of went to him for help. He's also a great friend."

"Is this also one of the two men you brought with you to a gala around the same time?"

"Yes. Kuroo and Bokuto. Although, you make it sound like I'm dating them."

"I apologize, I didn't mean to imply anything." The woman sighs, flicking her hand around in apology. The man shakes his head, grinning.

"It's fine, I don't mind it."

"That was it for the questions! If you have anything to add, feel free." The man laughs.

"Not at the moment, but thank you." Akaashi nods, standing up, and then the two cut to commercials and tell Akaashi goodbye. Akaashi wishes them luck as he leaves.

He turns on his phone once he's back home. Nearly 30 messages from Bokuto. Most of them are random things Bokuto sees on the road, or things that remind him of Akaashi. The last five are what are especially interesting.

From: Bokuto.  
uhm i have like 200 notifications on my phone all of a sudden

From: Bokuto.  
my mom texted me asking when i got famous

From: Bokuto.  
MY PHONE IS DYING WHY ARE SO MANY STRANGERS CALLING AND TEXTING ME AND KUROO

From: Bokuto.  
oh you did an interview thats why.... did you mention me??? is that why im suddenly famous

From: Bokuto.  
you think im a good friend akaashi?????

To: Bokuto.  
Of course you're a good friend.

From: Bokuto.  
thanks

From: Kuroo.  
HW IS C R Y I N G WHAT DID U SAY

To: Kuroo.  
Bokuto's crying?

From: Kuroo.  
YES U TURD WHA TD YOU SAY

To: Kuroo.  
I was interviewed and I said Bokuto was a good friend.

From: Kuroo.  
Well damn it hit him hard ngl

From: Kuroo.  
Hes gonna crash the car if he keeps happy crying tho

From: Kuroo.  
WAIT DID U SAY THGE SAME THING ABOUT ME?!!!

To: Kuroo.  
Not in the interview, but you're still a great friend.

And then Akaashi doesn't get a message back from either of them, so he puts his phone away and heads up to his room. Right as he gets there he gets about 4 messages in a row.

From: Bokuto.  
This is Kenma. They pulled over.

From: Bokuto.  
They're both laughing and crying.

From: Bokuto.  
I'm curious as to why being told they're great friends is so joyful.

From: Bokuto.  
I mean, it's obvious they're good friends already, they should know that.

To: Bokuto.  
I don't know, maybe it's the fact practically everyone knows about me, but they're one of the select few I'm friends with?

From: Bokuto.  
Maybe. I have to go, they want me to drive. I think it's so they can both text you.

To: Bokuto.  
Alright well, drive safe.

From: Bokuto.  
okay first off i cant believe kenma took my phone and knew my passcode

From: Bokuto.  
secondly i was crying because i really like you and you think im a friend which is so great and you think im a good friend which is DOUBLE great

To: Bokuto.  
I was just telling the truth, Bokuto.

From: Bokuto.  
thank you though

From: Bokuto.  
kuroo is asleep

From: Bokuto.  
i forgot crying tires him out like crazy

From: Bokuto.  
I NEVER SHOULDVE AGREED TO LET KENMA DRIVE NOW I HAVE TO DEAL WITH KUROO DROOLING ON ME FOR HOURS

Akaashi grins, and sticks his phone on the charger, sitting at his desk, and going over his calendar. Two meetings tomorrow, and one the day after, and Akaashi will FINALLY be done with this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so so sorry I took so long......... so sorry....damn....
> 
> Top Rated - Icona Pop
> 
> or you know....... una furtiva lagrima......
> 
> you ever get jealous of all the fanfics that get recommended and get super popular and then ya just sort of lose hope in your own fics cause me and my loser fics


	10. Let me hear you say

"Call me when you're done, we'll pick you up." Kuroo tells Kenma as Kenma rolls his eyes and gets out of the car. Bokuto starts driving away.

"How long do you think the concert is?" Bokuto asks, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel.

"I dunno man, like 2 or 3 hours." Kuroo responds, putting his feet up on the dash.

"You think we could make it to Akaashi's house and back?" At this, Kuroo looks at him like he's stupid.

"Bokuto, ya gotta do the math here. There's at least three hours to get there with the roads blocked like they are now, and maybe 2 hours to get back. Plus, I am super sick of this car, not to mention the 4 hour drive back home later." 

"Right, right. Sorry dude. What now, then?" Bokuto looks over, and Kuroo shrugs.

"I'd rather visit the nearest town and walk around because I'VE BEEN IN THIS METAL HELLBOX FOR HOURS." Kuroo yells, crossing his arms, and Bokuto laughs.

"Okay, yeah, fine." Bokuto says, heading towards whatever town's closest. Of course, 10 minutes later, in a grocery store, Kuroo starts running around the store like he's just learned how to run, and Bokuto thinks about reminding him this isn't Kenma's pushover store, but he doubts they'll ever visit this specific store again, so it doesn't particularly matter.

From: A. K.  
I think I'm going to sell my house.

To: A. K.  
i thought it was a pretty sick house but if you wanna sell it then go ahead

From: A. K.  
Ah, it's just too big for ONE person. Maybe I'll donate it to a charity.

To: A. K.  
thats a good idea do that

From: A. K.  
I'll probably move to a much smaller house. Maybe an apartment in a pretty solitary part of town.

To: A. K.  
oooorrr you could move closer to kuroo and i so we dont have to catch planes or drive for hours on end to see you

From: A. K.  
I'll consider it. But for now, I'm figuring out how to sell this thing. Or give it away.

To: A. K.  
cool also what are you doing tomorrow

From: A. K.  
I have 2 meetings.

To: A. K.  
yeah but like when do you get done

From: A. K.  
5\. Why is this information relevant?

To: A. K.  
i dunno i wanted to know i guess

To: A. K.  
wanna see kuroo trying to climb up one of the shelves in a grocery store

Akaashi doesn't respond, but Bokuto sends him a video of Kuroo barely making it up to the top of a grocery shelf, before an employee yells at him.

They're consequentially kicked out, and Kuroo insists they go find another store to get kicked out of. 

This is how they spend their 3 and a half hours. Finding new stores just to purposefully get kicked out of them. Kenma calls just as Kuroo is about to start driving in one of those tiny plastic kid cars. Kuroo begrudgingly puts the car back, and heads toward the car. Bokuto points out a bookstore as they leave the town.

"You could get some pretty good romance novels to read there, Kuroo."

"Dude, I cannot believe you're attacking my romance novels. They're good, okay? I read them, and 80% of the time, I am satisfied with the story." Kuroo argues.

"Alright, but what about the OTHER 20%?"

"The other 20% is garbage. Obviously written by jerks who think they know everything about love. YOU DON'T, BUDDY! NO ONE DOES!" Kuroo yells.

"Mm." Bokuto sighs. Kuroo nods and starts playing one of Akaashi's CDs again. By the time they pull up to get Kenma, Kuroo is intensely drumming on the dashboard in tune to the music, and he's got it up a little loudly. A lot loudly. Kenma scoots into the back and lays down, shutting the door.

"Turn it down, I want to try and sleep." Kenma requests, and Bokuto turns it down, which gains an incredulous look from Kuroo.

"Sorry dude, gotta let him nap." Bokuto shrugs, and Kuroo sighs in agreement. And then the boring and uneventful drive back begins. Bokuto's phone dies 15 minutes into the drive, and only Kenma brought a charger, but no one dares wake him up.

He spends the rest of the ride wondering if Akaashi is texting him.

\------------------

It's been pretty much 2 days since Bokuto's texted him and he doesn't know why he knows that fact. Nonetheless, he's not surprised when Bokuto finally says something. At 5 am.

From: Bokuto.  
do you think its safe to make two road trips in a week

To: Bokuto.   
It's 5 am, Bokuto. 

From: Bokuto.  
i just have like two questions and ill be done

To: Bokuto.  
Will you sleep if I answer them?

From: Bokuto.  
depends on the answers but yeah sure

To: Bokuto.  
What are the questions?

From: Bokuto.  
the first one was do you think its safe to make two road trips in a week and the second one is are you finally done with all your meetings and interviews forever

To: Bokuto.  
1\. It depends on how long the trip is, and for what reason. 2. No, my last last meeting is today. I had two yesterday.

From: Bokuto.  
okay cool bye

Akaashi takes Bokuto's text as the end of the conversation so he turns his phone off and goes back to bed.

Despite still sleeping somewhat poorly, Akaashi does have the privilege of being able to get up whenever now. Today, it just happens to be 11:27. And it also happens to be because someone's called him 8 times. And of course, that someone is Bokuto. Akaashi hisses and picks up the phone.

"Yes, hello. Why are you calling me so frequently?"

"I just want to know if you can open your front gate." Bokuto mutters awkwardly.

"Why do you need me to open my front gate?" Akaashi asks, and realizes that was a stupid question, now that he recalls Bokuto's questions earlier.

"Did you really drive to my house, Bokuto?" 

"Yeah! I mean... yeah, I did, but it was because I wanted you to have someone with you on your last day of all this! Just in case, ya know? Also I wanted to see you, and my camera sucks so I couldn't video call you, and I got more than enough sleep the last few days so I figured I'd get up early and visit you." Bokuto laughs, and Akaashi makes a face. Jesus, Bokuto has to be like, the most unintentionally truthful and thoughtful person ever. Akaashi has been having this same thought for weeks on end, trying to figure out HOW.

"Yeah, I'll... I'll open it, just wait a minute." Akaashi drags his free hand over his face, keeping the phone to his ear. He gets out of bed and shoves some shoes on. He doesn't know or care what pair. He has too many, and he plans to donate about 200 truckloads of clothes to different stores soon. 

Akaashi rushes down the stairs, and then slowly makes his way out to the gate. Bokuto is sitting on the roof of his car, messing with his phone. He must not have heard or seen Akaashi.

"Bokuto." Akaashi barks, and Bokuto's eyes snap over to him. Bokuto's eyes then close in a big wide grin as he jumps off of the top of his car.

"You look adorable, Akaashi!" Bokuto says, putting his hands on his hips, and Akaashi huffs, putting the code in for the gate and ignoring how warm his face is suddenly. Bokuto pushes the gate open, and then runs up to Akaashi's front door all in what seems to be one motion.

If Bokuto's trying to get Akaashi to run, or do anything active, he's not going to succeed. Akaashi walks up to the door and opens the door for Bokuto, before stepping in himself, and yawning. Bokuto laughs, and sits in the middle of the foyer, crossing his legs and folding his hands.

"Akaashi, I don't know HOW you manage to live in such a big house by yourself!" Bokuto looks back, more curious than anything. It's odd.

"I don't, usually. It gets eerily quiet and I can't sleep well, and it doesn't help that whenever I take a step anywhere, I can hear it echo uninterrupted. Which is exactly why I'm getting rid of it." Akaashi responds, sitting across from him.

"Where will you live, though?" Bokuto asks, and then pulls his head back and smacks his forehead like he said something dumb.

"I don't know, nor do I care, really. I'll live in a car, honestly. Anything's better than here."

"You really don't like it here then, huh?"

"I do not." Akaashi tells him.

"Why not? I mean- sorry if it sounds dumb, I just don't get how you might not like it, and I want to know."

"Bokuto, it doesn't sound weird. And I don't really know how to explain why I dislike it, it's just... I've been the automatic go to celebrity for what feels like decades, and having an empty house the size of an airplane hangar seems like such a waste. That's the best way I can describe it. I can't elaborate because I can't find the correct words."

"I haven't been extremely famous before so I don't quite understand the use of buying such huge houses, but if you don't need one, don't buy one! And if you bought it to give it to your parents, well, they haven't talked to you since the rumors from what you said, so I doubt they really deserve it. Does that help at all?" Bokuto asks, staring at Akaashi.

"Sure. Thanks. But, uh, actually, I still have a meeting, and its nearly 12:30, and I have to be there at 1:00." 

"Oh, yeah! Go get ready, I'll take you!"

"Bokuto, I have my own car, I can--"

"No, I want to!" Bokuto blurts, grinning stupidly. Akaashi rolls his eyes before walking back into his room, and changing into actual clothes. Akaashi doesn't realize Bokuto is still in the foyer and not outside waiting for a few seconds because Bokuto is being quiet, which is uncommon, and a little unnatural. Bokuto then starts jogging off towards his car, and Akaashi somewhat keeps up with him.

"Let's go then." Akaashi sighs, and Bokuto smiles. He hasn't spoken since he offered to take Akaashi. Maybe he does that? Does he just have quiet moods?

"Are you alright, Bokuto?" Akaashi asks, staring at his own hands.

"Yes! Yeah! I'm- I'm totally good, sorry." Bokuto responds, and then he shakes his head around once he starts driving.

"Ooh! Did Kuroo tell you about what happened yesterday?" And back to his regular loud self.

"No. What happened?" Akaashi takes a deep breath, preparing for a long story.

And he enjoys listening to it. As usual.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I live to suffer how about you
> 
> Boring - The Pierces


	11. All For You

What Akaashi did not anticipate, is how long these meetings would take, and how bored Bokuto would get throughout them. Not that Bokuto was in the meetings. He was just sitting out in the car and had been texting akaashi non-stop. Akaashi doubts Bokuto knows how meetings work. Akaashi only replies once, telling him that both meetings are here and he could go explore the town instead of sitting and waiting, but Bokuto's response was to state that he doesn't want to miss the exact moment Akaashi is done with everything.

Why the hell Bokuto- someone who, could barely stay in one spot on the drive here -wants to sit in a car doing nothing for 3 hours is beyond him.

Shit, actually, he probably owes Bokuto 8 to 9 favors at this point. Mostly because of Bokuto's general thoughtfulness, but Akaashi hates not paying someone back. It'd be much easier if you could just, pay someone everytime you owed them a favor. However, he's been told NOT to do that by both Bokuto and Kuroo.

"...need you to sign this?" 

"Oh, yeah, of course." Akaashi blurts, and just barely manages to conceal his embarassment at the fact he had completely tuned out of the conversation. He signs it and hands it back.

"Sir, before you head to the next meeting, we wanted to ask you about when you might be starting your business back up again?"

"If I do start again, it won't be soon. And I will likely sound a lot different. Because if I start again, it'll be because I want to sing what I want, not because someone thinks I'd be a money making machine." Akaashi shrugs, opening the door for them. They all nod and shake his hand on the way out, and Akaashi takes a deep breath and opens his phone, cringing at the notifications. 

Good thing he has a good 10 minutes before he HAS to be at the meeting.

From: Bokuto.  
a security guard told me to turn my music down and for a second i was going to tell him i was friends with akaashi keiji and then i realized that isnt very believable unless youre sittin with me

From: Bokuto.  
okay so the security guard got suspicious as to why i was just sitting in my car and told his guard friends right???

From: Bokuto.  
anyway they all were like major league worried i was gonna do somethin and then i told them to call the dude inside and ask if hed heard of bokuto koutarou and since you recently sent my fame levels rocketing he was like yeah 

From: Bokuto.  
and then the guards were like oh alright you arent gonna do somethin stupid but why are you just hanging in the parking lot??? and i told them I was waiting for you and now were playing cards waiting for you because the main guy is a superfan

To: Bokuto.  
Are you winning?

From: Bokuto.  
yeah of course i dont want to disappoint akaashi keiji with my weak card game skills

To: Bokuto.  
Nothing card game related would disappoint me, Bokuto.

From: Bokuto.  
i guess

To: Bokuto.  
Okay, now I REALLY have to go.

And Akaashi hears the messaging tone but he doesn't check it, because he's already rushing off to the meeting room. How he managed to spend 18 minutes texting Bokuto without realizing how late he was, is yet ANOTHER thing he can't comprehend. He slams the door open, and the two people in the room jump in surprise.

"I'm so sorry, I was texting someone and I completely forgot- I'm just- Anyway." Akaashi stutters, and sits down across from them, adjusting his jacket.

"It's quite alright, sir. We were also a bit late, and hoped you hadn't waited long. As it turns out, you arrived just two minutes after us, no worries."

"Are you sure?" Akaashi asks, scooting in closer to the table and folding his hands.

"Of course. Now, if you'd like to..." Akaashi stops paying attention halfway through the sentence, and instead focuses on the annoying continuous streak of message tones coming from his phone. 

The beeping stops a few minutes later, and Akaashi feels oddly sad about that. And after that, he goes through the rest of the meeting in autopilot, not paying attention to anything, but apparently trying to will Bokuto to text him via telepathy or something. Akaashi wants to bang his head on a wall when he realizes that's what he's been focused on. He settles for covering his red face with one of his hands to keep from looking flustered or embarassed in front of these two. 

And then his phone beeps again and he presses his forehead to the table.

"Uh, sir?" One of them mutters.

"Yeah, no, I'm listening, it's just- my neck is tired." Akaashi sighs, putting his hands on the back of his head, keeping his face on the table. They don't bother him about it for a few minutes, until they call on him to sign a few things before they have to leave. Akaashi sits up and does so, before standing up and opening the door for them as he checks his phone, because that's suddenly the only thing on his mind. They don't shake his hand. Probably because both hands are occupied, and if it isn't that, then it's likely because he looks so involved with whatever is going on with his phone.

From: Bokuto.  
well see ya when youre done then

From: Bokuto.  
the security guard hopes your meetings are going well

From: Bokuto.  
i also hope that

From: Bokuto.  
the meeting thing

From: Bokuto.  
what else would i be talking about pfft

From: Bokuto.  
how long until youre done though

From: Bokuto.  
cause im really bored and i wanna do stuff with you

To: Bokuto.  
I'm done now, I'll be out in a second.

From: Bokuto.  
im at the security stand in the parking lot doing karaoke with the main guard so 

To: Bokuto.  
Okay, I'll head over there then.

From: Bokuto.  
wanna sing a song with me??

From: Bokuto.  
like i know its your last day and all but like this would be your LAST last song like a celebration or somethin??

To: Bokuto.  
Do you want me to?

From: Bokuto.  
sort of but if you dont want to its fine

To: Bokuto.  
No, I'll do it, it's fine.

And Akaashi runs out to the stand and almost as soon as he gets there, he's pulled in pretty quickly. Surprisingly, the stand is a lot bigger than he thought it would be. Bokuto's grinning at him, and introduces him to someone else, but Akaashi's really out of it. 

"Ooh! So Akaashi, I narrowed it down to like, 3 songs, and you can pick which one to do." Bokuto shrugs, and when Akaashi looks over he's got his knees pulled up to his chest, sitting on the chair next to the machine.

"Ah, alright." Akaashi sighs, walking over and looking at his options. He notices that he's never sung any of the options listed, but there are MORE than enough of his songs on the machine. 

He's both happy that Bokuto had the decency not to pick a song he's sung before and irritated because it's yet another thing to add to his huge list of things Bokuto has done for him.

"Uh, this one." Akaashi points, not really minding which one he picks. Bokuto nods and turns it on, and while it loads he stands up on his chair.

"Do you want a microphone?" Bokuto asks, putting his hands on his hips and looking down at Akaashi.

"I'd prefer not." Akaashi mutters, still just completely zoned out. Bokuto raises an eyebrow but the music starts and he hurriedly jumps down and grabs Akaashi's hand.

"I'll sing the first part, because all the best singers have warm up acts." Bokuto grins, and lets go of his hand, and Akaashi absentmindedly presses that hand into his side. 

Bokuto starts humming along to the song, and just picks up singing once it actually starts. His singing voice is pretty average. Nothing terribly special. He might make a really good classical singer. He'd sound better with louder, lower notes. Bokuto grabs his hand again, and pulls Akaashi over to where he can see the screen. Akaashi takes a deep breath, realizing it's his turn to sing. Bokuto crosses his arms, and waits for Akaashi to start.

Akaashi isn't nervous about the singing, but he's very nervous about the way Bokuto doesn't seem fazed by it. Bokuto really doesn't view Akaashi as anyone famous. Just another friend, he supposes. That's a comforting thought. Akaashi continues singing, a few guards who are obviously off shift watch happily. He smiles at them. Bokuto joins in singing a few seconds late, for some reason, and even then he seems rushed and off.

Bokuto regains his composure a moment later, singing with Akaashi. He keeps smiling at Akaashi and getting really loud before the guards will shush him and tell him to quiet down just a bit. 

The last minute is almost over, and Bokuto stops for a second before joining in a lot more enthusiastically, if at all possible. And they end the song with Bokuto doing jazz hands, grinning at Akaashi. His face is red, likely because he isn't used to singing that much. Bokuto takes no time waving goodbye to the security guards, and running out to the car. Akaashi does the same.

When Akaashi gets to the car, Bokuto's resting his head on the steering wheel.

"Bokuto, are you alright?" Akaashi asks, and Bokuto immediately sits up and smiles, looking behind the car as he starts it.

"You're really attractive, Akaashi." He answers, and looks back at the wheel, obviously focused on driving. Akaashi wants to say the same about Bokuto, but with the state he's in, he'd probably crash the car.

"Especially when you sing, you look really nice when you sing." Bokuto mutters, not paying attention. Does he realize he's talking or...? 

Akaashi rests his face for a second before yanking it away in surprise of how warm his face is. Bokuto must notice his sudden awkward movement because he looks over and then looks back at the road.

"Are you hurt?" He asks.

"No, just, is the heater on?" Akaashi responds.

"No?" Bokuto answers, and Akaashi nods, despite still being confused. Akaashi rolls his window down, and presses his hands to his face. Bokuto starts laughing, and Akaashi whips around to look at him.

"What?"

"Nothing, it's just, you look like a dog." Bokuto chuckles, and Akaashi stops thinking for a second, because shit, THAT'S why he was blushing what the fuck. Why this?

Why does he have to do this to himself.

\-----------------

Bokuto accidentally drives by Akaashi's house without realizing it. He doesn't know how he missed it, it's huge and you can see it from space probably. And when Bokuto starts to turn around, Akaashi looks confused.

"I'm bringing you home. I missed the turn." Bokuto explains.

"No, It's fine. Just head home. I'll come with." Akaashi sighs.

"Akaashi, it's like an 8 hour drive."

"I'm aware. It's not like I can't get home from your apartment. I own a jet, and 3 cars."

"You have 3 cars? I thought you only had 2." Bokuto accepts the fact that Akaashi wants to come with, and starts back on the 8 hour path back home.

"I never use the third one. It was the first car I ever owned. I really just keep it for sentimental value, I suppose." Akaashi shrugs, going back to looking out the window, which he's been doing for most if not all of the trip so far.

"Are you bored?" Bokuto asks.

"Oh, uh, not really, I'm just thinking. Do I look bored? Are you bored?" Akaashi blurts, turning to look at Bokuto.

"You do look a little bored." He laughs. Akaashi snaps his attention to the window again.

"I'm not, it's alright." Akaashi says, tapping his fingers on his leg.

"Can I ask you some things? They're things I've asked before, and you said you'd answer later. We have a few hours so..."

"Yeah, go ahead." Akaashi answers, looking away from the window, and down at his hands.

"Uh, did you ever have any pets?"

"I had two cats before I was famous." Akaashi smiles.

"What's the flower song you made called, and is there a record of it anywhere?" Bokuto asks.

"Carnation Point? No, the only place it's recorded is in my memory I guess."

"Did you ever like Sarakui like everyone thought you did?"

"No. Although he probably would've been a great boyfriend, with the way he handled a lot of stuff." Akaashi shrugs.

"Mm. Have you ever dated anyone else famous?"

"No. I haven't actually dated anyone since before all this."

"Oh my god, Akaashi! You haven't been on a date?" Bokuto splutters.

"Not for nearly 4 years, no. And you?" Akaashi answers, completely unfazed.

"Uh, no, I haven't- I haven't been on a date for... 5-6 months?"

"Impressive." Akaashi grins, and Bokuto takes a deep breath.

"I don't really count it as a date, though. It sucked ass, so in actuality maybe 8 months." Bokuto laughs.

"Oh, now you have to tell me the story." Akaashi says, looking intrigued.

"Fine, okay. So like, Kuroo set me up on this date while he was drunk, and forgot to tell me he was drunk when he set it up, right? Right. And like, I don't really like dating someone I don't know already, but I went because I was so bored, and yeah you get it, but uh..." Bokuto takes a second to recall the rest of the story.

"Oh, yeah. So we were at this restaurant and I totally miscalculated the fanciness, and I did something wrong and also spilled something on someone else that WASN'T my date and I got kicked out and when I offered her a ride home, she told me she was gay and left, and like, it started raining. Like some cliché thing. But it rained and THEN my car wouldn't start and yeah. Terrible. Do you have any terrible stories?"

"None as good as that one, but I have one or two." Akaashi tells Bokuto, crossing his legs in his seat.

"I wanna hear."

"Alright, well, so I was on a date with this crazy tall girl, and I was just really confused as to why I was on this date, like, I never remembered agreeing to it, and I'm pretty sure she was a hypnotist or something like that, because it was like I was obeying everything she said. Anyway, this was before I was famous, mind you." Akaashi starts.

"So she tells me to go sing, because it was open mic, and I agree, and I start singing, and everyone asks me for an encore, and I do, and halfway through I just realize this was such a stupid idea, and so I just book it out of the place halfway through the song, and she doesn't try and chase me, even."

"Oh my god."

"I know!"

"Well once, when I was like, 12, I thought I was the smoothest thing and I asked this girl out in front of the whole class, and she accepted only to break up with me for Kuroo, who turned her down." Bokuto coughs.

"I had the same thing happen to me when I was 14, except I was the one being asked out by this boy, and I accepted and he was just really a jerk and I don't know WHY I liked him, but we dated for 2 days before he decided boys weren't his thing and he broke up with me." Akaashi tells Bokuto.

"Were you just so heartbroken?"

"I don't know, were you?"

"I was a little hurt, but it was more because back then, if I'm being truly honest, Kuroo was the hottest in the class, and deep down I knew I was just leverage to get to him. Of course, then even HE fell victim to puberty, and I was deemed the new adonis, mostly because I was like, one of the first few people to get OUT of puberty." Bokuto shrugs.

"Nice. And if I'M being honest, I wasn't at all heartbroken when he broke up with me because I stopped liking him practically seconds before he did, and I started liking this other kid. As for the adonis thing, you can imagine how I- someone who continued to get a bowl cut until they were 13 thinking it was cool -was treated."

"You got a bowl cut until you were 13..."

"Shut up, I'm sure you made terrible fashion choices. And don't say you haven't because I've seen some."

"When I was 10 I shaved the middle of my head, and my punishment was just to leave it like that." Bokuto laughs.

"I had a kid in my class that managed to figure out how to dye his hair by stealing his mom's dye, and he had stains on his face and arms for weeks." Akaashi smiles.

"Once Kuroo dyed my hair pink when I was asleep once, and I didn't bleach it out, I just left it, because it actually looked pretty good."

"Ooh, yeah. I can imagine you with pink hair. Attractive."

"Right?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feelings - Maroon 5
> 
> I'm so sorry this took so loooonnngggg
> 
> ALSO adonis means a REAAAAALLLLLY attractive man, or a godlike man. I like the word.


	12. Eyes Sitting Low

3/4 of the way back, Akaashi's nearly asleep in the passenger seat, and Bokuto had already been caught staring once, to a kick from Akaashi with something along the lines of 'you're gonna make me cry good god' muttered with it.

Bokuto had been fine with Akaashi's silence for a while, until Akaashi basically starts yelling out of nowhere.

"Wait! Hey! My parents live there!" Akaashi yells, pointing at a small house just off the side of the road.

"Oh, did you want to visit?" Bokuto asks, slowing down a bit.

"No." Akaashi states, plainly and concisely. Bokuto doesn't understand why he would point out his parents' house so enthusiastically and not want to visit or say hello. But, Akaashi can do what he wants. Bokuto looks over to say something, but Akaashi's back to looking like if Bokuto spoke to him, he'd punch him. 

"Alrighty then." Bokuto mutters.

"You're not gonna ask why, or make me tell you or anything?"

"Uh, did you want me to?"

"No." Akaashi mutters, curling his legs up into himself, and Bokuto thinks it's cute.

"I do- I do have a question for you though." Akaashi wraps his arms around his knees.

"Yeah, go ahead." Bokuto turns the radio down.

"Is Kuroo dating anyone?" Akaashi asks.

"Uh- I- why? Did you want to date him?" Bokuto asks, and Akaashi turns red, and drags his hands over his face before making some weird distressed noises.

"No. God no, I just worded that terribly wrong. He just... he acts like some sort of romance guru, and I doubt he's ever dated anyone for more than like, 2 weeks." Akaashi says, clearly.

"He's not dating anyone, unless his love for soap operas counts?"

"It doesn't. I hope. Why? Does he like... sleep with a box set of soap operas?"

"He did. Twice. But that's a long story. One involves one of our game nights and the other involves Kuroo drinking really spiked punch at some party." Bokuto laughs.

"Mm. Tell me the most confusing story from one of your game nights." Akaashi twists around in his seat to face Bokuto, and leans against the door.

"Only if you come to the next one."

"If the story is entertaining enough, sure." Akaashi sighs. Bokuto fist pumps, because no one can resist the raccoon resistance story.

"Alright, okay. So our friend Lev's old place- that he moved out of recently but that's not the point -had a little forest behind it, and the forest was just FULL of trash and shit, okay? Yeah, you get it. And so one game night, everyone decided to migrate to Lev's house, because Kuroo didn't have a dartboard and everyone suddenly wanted to play darts, I dont know, and so I think..." Bokuto stops, and Akaashi nods.

"Oh, so once everyone had a turn, we all got bored, and I can't remember who suggested we explore this tiny ass forest, but we all agreed, and we also decided it would be best to try and catch some critters, you know. But like, turns out, Yaku catches 3 raccoons. I don't know how, but these raccoons weren't even objecting, they were just like, okay, chill. And Lev comes back with a squirrel and apparently he just like, plucked it out of a tree? Who knows. But then Kuroo comes back with two squirrels and a bird and--" Bokuto stops when he looks back over at Akaashi, and he's actually asleep.

"Well, long story short, we started a battle, and may have accidentally painted the side of someone's house, and torn down a two foot tree." Bokuto grins, going back to watching the road. 

Bokuto dislikes silence. It's alright if other people contribute to it, because then it seems like everyone's speaking in silence, but when he's alone, it's a little unsettling, and he's not waking Akaashi up for ANYTHING, with the way he's got a bruise on the side of his leg from when Akaashi kicked him before.

Usually music only really helps to emphasize the fact it's quiet, so Bokuto just turns it off, and drums his fingers along the steering wheel, humming to himself, listening to the sound of the car. Not too comforting, as his car always sounds like a pile of shit, and given it's just been driven for nearly 14 hours in one day, it's starting to sound like keys on a crowded keychain, clinking and whirring at the wrong times.

This of course leads Bokuto to thinking about what would happen if his car broke down right now, on the side of a semi secluded road, just as it's getting dark. Shit, would Akaashi hate him for not fixing his car before he got stuck in the middle of the road? Akaashi probably already thinks his car is shit. His life compared to Akaashi's is like comparing copper to rubies, or something. 

A loud groaning and clanging sound from the engine does not comfort him at all. Of course, he's heard that sound before, but it's harder to ignore when it's the only thing he can hear.

It's not like he doesn't WANT to fix his car, he would just rather use it until it completely breaks down and THEN fix it, than fix it and have something else break the next day. So, for now, it's just duct tape and well placed bolts and screws.

Akaashi wouldn't get angry if his car broke down, he thinks. He wasn't terribly mad when Bokuto dented the back of his car. Or maybe that was a different circumstance. He's not terribly sure. 

Bokuto spends the next hour in uncomfortable silence before Akaashi wakes up, and jumps at how dark it is.

"Sorry I didn't hear the rest of your story." Akaashi mumbles.

"It's fine! It's good! Don't worry, I'm not angry or anything!"

"Okay? Do YOU need to sleep? Getting a little jumpy there."

"No, sorry, just... I've been going over worst case scenarios for this car trip in my head. Like, blowing up, or my car gains sentience and wants revenge for how badly I've treated it, maybe you get angry at me and stop talking to me, or maybe I ask if you can call your plane and you tell me sure, and when it gets here you tell me the plane is only for you and I die out here." Bokuto states, because that's what he was worried about.

"Oh... well, Bokuto, your car is relatively decent, I doubt it'd blow up. At the most, it'd catch on fire and we could put it out. And I've never seen a car gain sentience, and I'm sure if it did, you could call emergency services, and scientists would be on it in seconds. I don't know why I would get angry at you? Nothing's wrong, you're still my friend. And lastly, if I am ever cruel enough to do that to you, I give you permission to kill or exorcise me." Akaashi tells him. Bokuto shrugs.

"Sure yeah. Yeah. You're right. Sorry." 

"Bokuto." Akaashi sighs.

"Akaashi."

"It's okay if you're worried. And if you were honestly that worried I would be mad if... if what?" 

"If my car broke down." Bokuto clarifies.

"If... your car broke down. Bokuto, my car has broken down more than once, I wouldn't be mad because a machine malfunctioned. Sure, it's an inconvenience, but I wouldn't be mad at you. If you were really that worried, you could've woken me up." Akaashi tells him, crossing his legs and putting his hands on his knees.

Bokuto is either really happy or really confused. He can't tell. Maybe that's good?

"Thanks Akaashi! You're the best! I just didn't want another bruise." Bokuto laughs, and Akaashi splutters.

"I HURT YOU? Oh my god, sorry, I thought it was a really light kick. I was just really tired, I'm so sorry." Akaashi apologizes. He looks so worried and apologetic, and Bokuto just... Wow.

I mean, it could just be that Akaashi looks like some scarily pretty figure under the pristine light of the moon, or the fact he looks so genuinely worried about Bokuto's wellbeing, but Bokuto just wants to kiss him. Bokuto doesn't realize he's slowed to a complete stop until Akaashi looks at him in confusion.

"Why did you stop? We still have an hour and a half until you're home?"

"Shit, fuck, right. Yeah. Okay. I'm driving still." Bokuto laughs too loud and too awkwardly. Akaashi looks at him in an awkward confusion.

"Are you sure that you don't need to sleep?" Akaashi asks, reaching over and putting his hand inches away from Bokuto's free one. Bokuto basically slams on the brakes.

"WHOA-KAY! I'm driving whether you like it or not, Bokuto." 

"Okay, that's reasonable, I'm just... I'm gonna get in the back." Bokuto mutters, getting out of the front seat and out of the car. Akaashi scoots over to the driver's seat, and Bokuto gets in the back, and immediately lies down.

Maybe sleeping will help him stop thinking about an A-list celebrity like some sort of cliche romantic movie crush. Who has a chance with HIM?

 

\-------------

 

Akaashi can't tell if Bokuto's face went completely red or not, because the moon was in his face, and Bokuto could've just been like this the past hour, and he wasn't awake to notice.

Maybe Bokuto sleeping will give him some time to sort what EXACTLY he's thinking about this whole in love with Bokuto thing. Bokuto's the exact OPPOSITE of what he loves, and still he's getting odd giddy schoolgirl feelings whenever Bokuto compliments him.

Bokuto compliments everyone, it's not special. 

Now Akaashi feels conflicted because he really doesn't want anyone treating him like he's famous, but playing the famous card right now would sure do him some favors. For once, Akaashi would actually like attention, but he has no idea how to get it, and he only wants it from Bokuto, and the fact he knows this only makes it harder. Spending nearly an entire lifetime avoiding too much attention does not equip you for actually needing attention for once. 

He really should text Kuroo about this, because despite the fact he'd likely freak out because 'AKAASHI KEIJI IS IN LoVE WITH MY BEStiE?!??' He'd eventually actually become helpful. Of course, there's always the lingering threat of what if he tells Bokuto or Bokuto sees. Which is childish. Wouldn't it be best if Bokuto did know? 

But, no. It's like Akaashi has completely reverted back to his grade school days, admiring from afar, batting his eyelashes, too infatuated and afraid of rejection to do anything. So Akaashi pulls over to the side of the road, because fuck it, this is urgent enough, and Kuroo would kill him for waiting another minute.

To: Kuroo.  
I have news, but I swear to god, if you tell anyone, remember I have enough money to buy a hitman.

From: Kuroo.  
fuckin' savage.

From: Kuroo.  
ya babe what ur news??? tell papa.

To: Kuroo.  
First off, don't ever call yourself papa ever again.

From: Kuroo.  
whatever what is this news i need the fresh G O S S I P.

To: Kuroo.  
I may or may not be in love with one of your friends.

From: Kuroo.  
okay ur gonna have 2 specify cuz u have met p much all my friends????

To: Kuroo.  
Kuroo. I swear to god.

From: Kuroo.  
IM BEI NG SERIOUS I DONT KNOW

From: Kuroo.  
wait.......... wtf...... it cant be....

From: Kuroo.  
r u...... in love with my main man???? my dudeski? is this 4 real im so....

To: Kuroo.  
"ur gonna have 2 specify" to quote YOU.

From: Kuroo.  
quoting the master... good move bucko....

From: Kuroo.  
and im talking bout my bro bokuto...... is this who u have chosen 2 love?1?

To: Kuroo.  
Yes.

From: Kuroo.  
GR8 choice now 4 ur wedding colors im thinkin black and gold?? idk im feelin them.

To: Kuroo.  
At this point, telling Bokuto would have been better.

From: Kuroo.  
DO NOT TELL HIM YET PLZ I WANNA B THERE 

From: Kuroo.  
i have sinned..... i am sorry for angering u.. i will offer my best wisdom when u and bo arrive...... plz... do not smite me with ur beautiful look of godlike displeasure.....

To: Kuroo.  
I have to drive. I'll talk to you when we get back.

From: Kuroo.  
dont do anythin too radical u crazy kids ;)

Akaashi rolls his eyes, turns his phone off and sets it on the passenger seat, driving into the road again.

When Akaashi stops next, it's to get water because Bokuto woke up and was really dehydrated, so Akaashi pulled over to get water because there was none in the car. When Akaashi gets back out to the car, Bokuto is in the passenger seat, and he looks tired still. Like he'll pass out at any given second.

"Bokuto, you should get in the back, where you can lie down. I can tell you from experience it's not comfortable up here." Akaashi says softly, handing him a water bottle, and starting the car. Bokuto shakes his head, closing the passenger door, and smiling.

"Alright." Akaashi mutters apprehensively, pulling out of the parking lot.

"Akaashi, you're really nice." Bokuto yawns, and Akaashi shrugs, and Bokuto huffs.

"Don't shrug, you're nice. Or at least, to Kuroo and me. So I count you as nice."

"Thanks. You're nice, as well." Akaashi wants to hide his face, but he's not going to crash Bokuto's car, so. And it's not like Bokuto can see him blushing in the dark anyway.

"You think I'm nice, Akaashi?"

"I've answered this before. Of course I do. You're very nice, and despite the way you seem originally, you're actually pretty complex, and you seem to care a lot about the wellbeing of others."

"This is why YOU'RE nice, Akaashi." Bokuto smiles, and it's tired and slow, but it's definitely genuine and happy.

"I think you need more sleep." 

"Probably, but that doesn't mean I'm telling you lies." Bokuto shrugs, leaning against the window.

"Oh shut up. We'll be at your apartment in less than a half an hour. Kuroo's waiting for you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heart's a Mess - Gotye (I need to make a playlist or something)
> 
> I keep freaking out cause like, I haven't updated in 5 days but then I remember some people don't update for months.
> 
> eeeeeehhhh


	13. Just Take Aim

And, just as Akaashi said, Kuroo is waiting in the doorway, with an odd neon blue and orange skiing jacket and green polka dot scarf on.

"Why didn't you just wait inside, dude? The apartment is going to get cold." Bokuto yawns, and slides in past him, walking towards his bedroom. Kuroo shrugs.

"I dunno, actually." Kuroo says, and his shoulders relax a little, as if he genuinely hadn't thought of waiting inside. Kuroo swats at the air impulsively and then stares at Akaashi for a little too long.

"Are you staying the night, Akaashi?" Kuroo squints, and Akaashi has to resist the urge to laugh at him.

"No, I'll just be taking Bokuto's car and driving back. Of course I'm staying." Akaashi says, stepping into the apartment, and Kuroo keeps squinting at him, until he gasps and slaps his forehead.

"I'M THE DISAPPROVING FRIEND! THAT'S NOT THE ROLE I SHOULD BE PLAYING HERE!" Kuroo yells, and Akaashi stares at him in confusion.

"Damn... I should be the matchmaker friend..." Kuroo says sadly, as though his life is completely ruined.

"Please do NOT help me with this. Promise me you WON'T help."

"Wait, but what if he--" 

"I repeat, please do NOT help me with this. In fact, I'd rather you just forget it." Akaashi walks over and sits on the couch, staring up at the ceiling. It's dark in here. Did Kuroo have the lights off and the door open like that?

"Oh my god. I recognize this. I RECOGNIZE THIS!" Kuroo jumps, standing in some odd sumo wrestler squat pose.

"I swear to god, Kuroo, if you think this is something from a romance novel, I'm going to shove my foot--"

"It's not... from a book. It's from a movie, and you basically said the exact line, oh my god." Kuroo laughs, leaning over his legs. Akaashi sighs, and throws a throw pillow at Kuroo.

"ECH! What the hell, Akaashi. Oh right, you want a blanket. One second." Kuroo coughs, jogging away and coming back with approximately 4 blankets. He dumps them on Akaashi.

"Warmth." Kuroo states plainly, and sits on one of the other chairs. Akaashi layers them on top of each other, until he's somewhat pinned down by the weight of the blankets.

"You want to watch a movie, because I'm not gonna be able to sleep with the shit I got told today, man. I'll turn on the one you accidentally quoted."

"Sure, yeah." Akaashi sighs, pulling the blankets up to his nose. Kuroo starts some movie, and the only thing Akaashi gets to read in the description is 'and she's not about to let the trees get to her'. He doesn't know how to feel about that. 

Akaashi determines that this is the worst romance movie he's ever seen a good quarter of the way through. Not that he's seen many, but this is the worst. He watches how Kuroo reacts to all the (excessive and predictable) plot twists, and the loving way he sighs and smiles is probably better entertainment than the entirety of this terrible movie. Akaashi is able to predict what happens, pretty easily. It's a straight romance movie, what do you expect will happen. Coincidental misunderstanding. Sadness. The girl and boy make up (and out). They live happily ever after. 

"So cute." Bokuto says, from the side of the room. Akaashi hadn't realized he was watching the movie and not sleeping. Mostly because he's on the side of the room where he'd have to tilt his head back insanely far to see it from where he's sitting. He does it anyway, tilting his head back to see Bokuto. 

When he actually does see Akaashi he just stares at him. Akaashi smiles, and Bokuto brings the hand he had at his side up to his face, looking away. Bokuto looks back over a second later, and drops his hand. He mouths something to Akaashi, and Akaashi can't understand it.

Akaashi pulls his arm out from underneath the massive blanket pile and beckons him over. Bokuto walks over and sits down next to the side of the couch. Akaashi is hyper aware of how close Bokuto's face is. He's trying to figure if his face is red because he's hanging his head over the side of a couch or because Bokuto is inches away from him. Both, probably.

"I was SAYING, this movie sucks ass, but Kuroo likes it. He likes anything romance wise." Bokuto whispers, folding his hands together and resting them under his chin.

"You were saying it was cute, you liar."

"I wasn't- I- sure." Bokuto mutters and Akaashi is pretty sure Bokuto scoots away from him a bit, and he isn't sure whether or not to be relieved.

"I thought you were tired, Bokuto. You should sleep." Akaashi whispers, and Bokuto shrugs.

"I did. But I guess my napping in the car threw me off. Or something, I dunno." Bokuto tells Akaashi.

"You should still try and sleep some, Bokuto." 

"YOU should try and sleep." Bokuto repeats. Akaashi grins.

"That's what I plan to do." Akaashi rolls his eyes and tilts his head back under the blankets. Bokuto sits next to the couch for a bit, eventually combing his fingers through Akaashi's hair. Akaashi doesn't actually realize he's doing it until Bokuto stands up and drags his hand through Akaashi's hair on his way back to his room. 

Akaashi sits up, and puts his face in his hands.

"Damn, that was like the intro to a romance movie." Kuroo whispers. 

"Shut up." Akaashi whines.

\-----------------

Bokuto wakes up multiple times throughout the night. He doesn't mind it, it happens often, but he keeps feeling like he should go check on Akaashi, or make sure he's okay. He doesn't do it, of course. 

But when he actually gets up in the morning, he decides it probably isn't best to miss out on an hour of sleep because he's too busy thinking about Akaashi's soft hair and what silky fabric it felt most like. And the continuing thought of 'you definitely love akaashi' is replaying in the back of his mind.

That part is the worst. It keeps repeating itself, and Bokuto continues to find himself blushing at completely mundane thing like Akaashi waking up and dragging his arm over his face to avoid having to wake up. Or when Akaashi pushes his hair to the side, or when he itches the side of his neck and just leaves his hand there, or Kuroo says something and Akaashi makes some witty comeback. So MANY things.

Kuroo suddenly stands up from the table.

"We should have a game night, Bokuto. Today. Akaashi can come. Then everyone will believe we actually know Akaashi Keiji." Kuroo blurts.

"The rumors and pictures of you with me didn't tell them you knew me?" Akaashi asks. Kuroo rolls his eyes.

"Some people are skeptics, Akaashi. So, Bokuto, what do you say?" 

"Well, yeah, of course." Bokuto answers, grinning.

"I'm supposed to look forward to this, when half the time someone gets arrested or hurt?" 

"Akaashi. Chill. I'm sure you being there will only ADD to the fun." Kuroo laughs, and Bokuto nods in agreement. Akaashi throws a hand up in surrender and sets his cup down with the other.

"Alright. If you can pull a game night together I'll go. Mostly because I suspect you'd force me to stay until you could arrange one anyway." Akaashi grins, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms across his chest.

"That's probably true and there's no need to worry it'll be fun also Kuroo can I talk to you?" Bokuto says, embarrassingly fast. Kuroo squints.

"I'm preeetty sure I heard you ask to talk to me, but I can't be SURE." Bokuto smacks Kuroo's shoulder once he's done talking.

"Ow, okay, fine." Kuroo whines, getting up out of his chair. Bokuto grabs his wrist and pulls him towards the hallway.

"Damn, Bokuto how the hell can you pull me along so easily..." Kuroo mutters, staring at Bokuto's arms suspiciously.

"Okay so I'm probably gonna just not make any sense here because I'm internally freaking out practically every second the perfect Akaashi Keiji is in our apartment for some reason although I guess I know the reason but it's not what I thought it was at first because at first I though I was just being paranoid but I'm pretty sure that--"

"Bokuto, oh my god take a breath. I'm barely getting anything but like Akaashi, something about a reason and paranoia." Kuroo sighs, crossing his arms. Bokuto takes an over dramatic breath.

"I'm pretty sure I'm in love with Akaashi Keiji, you fuck nugget." Bokuto blurts, and Kuroo just stands there for a second before sitting down on the floor, looking like he's in the middle of an existential crisis.

"Do you need water or something." Bokuto asks, and Kuroo just sighs. Bokuto sits down in front of him.

"Man, I promised I wouldn't meddle but this is some quality ass romantic shit, dude." Kuroo says, but it sounds like he's mostly arguing with himself.

"I never made you promise not to meddle when did I say that?"

"Oh, uh, it was... a few months ago. You told me if you ever uh, fell in love, not to mess with you." Kuroo states and Bokuto nods.

"Maybe I did then. Anyway, I'm gonna leave you to your thinking devices and uh, hope you don't die or something?" Bokuto says, standing up and walking out of the hallway. Akaashi has his tongue out just a bit while he's texting and it's the cutest thing he's ever seen, and at the same time he sort of wants to slap himself in the face before he thinks anything else.

"Who are you talking to?" Bokuto asks, leaning over the kitchen counter. Akaashi looks over, and shrugs.

"Trying to donate my house. Someone's taking care of it, though, I just wanted them to buy a moving truck full of stuff from my room and get it over here."

"You're going to drive a moving truck?"

"It's less attention grabbing than some high grade luxury car."

"Oh, right. Right." Bokuto mutters, scratching at his arm.

"Yeah." Akaashi sighs.

"Mm... Oh! Are you actually looking forward to game night or are you just saying you aren't?"

"Of course I'm looking forward to it, Bokuto. Then again, you and Kuroo could have just made it out to seem a lot cooler." Akaashi answers, leaning over the table.

"Maybe. If I'm being honest though, you might not like it. It might be super crazy." 

"Bokuto. I used to sing in front of thousands of people, some of which were absolutely insane. Lots of things happened. Including a fire. Twice. I'll be fine. Don't worry, I'm sure I'll like it. And if not, you and Kuroo owe me a favor for making a special appearance." Akaashi smiles, staring at the center of the table.

"Aw man, how many favors do I owe you then?"

"None, I haven't been with you two and not had fun so far."

"Cool." Bokuto says. Akaashi nods. Kuroo slides into the room.

"Got some totally radical news for you. Everyone can make it, man. Everyone. These last few times we've been hella lucky." Kuroo tells them.

"Who exactly is everyone? I know there's this Lev guy, and Shirofuku?" Akaashi asks, crossing his arms again. Bokuto forces his attention to Kuroo.

"Aight, so there's Kenma, there's Lev, there's Yaku, there's Shirofuku, and last but not least, there's Konoha." Kuroo puts his hands on his hips.

"Damn! This is gonna be good!" Bokuto yells excitedly. Akaashi grins.

"Let's hope so."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is so short (or I think it is, I can never tell) but the upside is the next chapter is game night. Downside is it'll take a bit.
> 
> Anyway I love y'all


	14. We Ain't Even Gonna Make It

Everyone's reaction to Akaashi is practically the same. Confusion followed by an awkward introduction, and then a lot of excited and awestruck whispers when he leaves the room. Kuroo's talking to everyone, and Bokuto is sitting on the kitchen counter counting forks. Akaashi doesn't want to know why. But he asks anyway, walking in the kitchen to put some dishes away.

"I was just curious, pretty much. Wanted to know how many forks we had compared to spoons, ya know?"

"I don't know, but I'm glad you've figured it out." Akaashi smiles, looking over at Kuroo, who's striking some sort of golf pose. Bokuto must notice Akaashi's curiosity towards the others because he looks over as well and climbs off the counter. 

"If you wanna talk to them, just talk to them. I swear the awkwardness of introducing themselves to someone who has been called a literal god multiple times doesn't represent them fully. Trust me on that." Bokuto says, leaning over the counter. The entirety of the group looks back at Akaashi at the same time, and if that isn't suspicious, I don't know what is.

"No, it's just... this sort of setting always make me think they're talking shit about me, and the fact they keep looking over doesn't help."

"I doubt they're talking shit, and hey, if they are, I'll kick them out!" Bokuto grins and gives Akaashi a thumbs up. 

"Ah, well. As long as I have you to protect me." Akaashi sighs, walking out of the kitchen. Bokuto runs after him.

"--still has NO idea heeeee... has fourteen dogs! Hello." Kuroo says, greeting Akaashi. Akaashi awkwardly waves his hand.

"Okay, this is gonna be odd, but how does this whole thing work?" Akaashi asks, crossing his arms. It must be terribly obvious he's anxious because Bokuto taps the space between his shoulders and tells him it's okay. Unfortunately, this doesn't help. Akaashi hasn't been in a more private friendly setting like this in way too long, he doesn't remember what he's supposed to do, even.

"Well, mostly we just talk or do something until someone comes up with an idea, and we do the idea, no matter how stupid, and it goes from there. It can range from going to get ice to trying to free some gorillas from the local zoo." Kuroo explains, and he also sounds softer and gentler. 

Akaashi just keeps wondering if everyone else can tell he's not used to this sort of thing, and that's another thing on his 'why Akaashi Keiji is internally freaking out' list. Mostly the list is Bokuto. At least, it has been for the last week or so.

"Oh! Hey! What if we go race lawnmowers?" Lev suggests excitedly. Kuroo lifts his arm up and pats Lev's head.

"We haven't done that in a while, true... but I think we need to think bigger for this one, dude." Kuroo sighs, and Kenma chuckles.

"Whenever you say think bigger, the idea always ends up as racing helicopters and none of us have a helicopter." Kenma glances at Akaashi as if telling him 'you'd better not have a helicopter'. Akaashi shakes his head, and Kenma takes a deep breath in relief.

"What about messing around with one of the construction sites again?" Yaku adds, and Shirofuku shrugs.

"I'd be up for the construction thing. As long as we get drinks first, because last time they nearly caught us." She laughs.

"And being drunk will make us LESS likely to be caught?" Kenma argues, staring at his phone.

"Okay, shh. Raise your hand if you vote construction." Kuroo says, and most people shrug and agree, but no hands are raised. Kuroo grins.

"It's settled then. And we'll stop for a drink cause Shirofuku is a boss ass bitch."

"That's right, fuckheads. Praise me." Shirofuku grins, and Kuroo stops for a second.

"Akaashi, do you want to drive, because chances are half of us won't be able to drive."

"Sure, but none of you have a car big enough to fit all of you?" Akaashi states, and Kuroo laughs. Bokuto smiles.

"Akaashi, Lev has a huge ass van." Kenma tells him, and Lev grins and nods vigorously like it's a huge achievement.

"Alright, alright. Let's go." Akaashi sighs, and Kuroo yells for everyone to get to the car. Akaashi heads down the stairs after everyone else, locking Bokuto's apartment, because he always forgets. When he gets down to the van Shirofuku tosses him a keychain with about 2 pounds of charms and shit and 2 actual keys.

"He bought the van from his sister, and doesn't want to take the charms off." Yaku says blankly, crawling into the back.

"No, that's not true! I don't know how." Lev defends himself. Kenma laughs, sitting in the back with Yaku. Akaashi thinks it's probably because Yaku is the least likely to bother him. Kuroo's climbing in the passenger before he slaps his forehead and gives Bokuto the seat. Akaashi sighs and calls Kuroo over. 

"Kuroo, what did you promise NOT to do."

"I promised not to mess with your romance shit."

"What are you doing right now then?"

"Messing with your romance shit."

Akaashi throws his hands up in response, and Kuroo winks, climbing into the back.

"It's not going to work, Kuroo." Akaashi says, and Kuroo mumbles something along the lines of 'not if you don't do anything about it'. Akaashi starts the car and gets going.

"Akaashi, let's play your music!" Bokuto says, and Akaashi takes a deep breath.

"If you really--"

"The radio and CD player don't work!" Lev yells. Akaashi looks over at Bokuto, who grins.

"You could do a live performance?" Kuroo blurts and Akaashi snorts.

"HA! You couldn't hear me over all of you talking in this car. Besides, I'd need a song." The car gets insanly quiet.

"I Won't Hesitate. Sing that."

"Fine, fine, just... where am I going?" Akaashi asks, and Kuroo describes their route in great detail, and then it's quiet again. Akaashi huffs and then begrudgingly starts singing. Not even 20 seconds in, Kuroo starts singing along. Not too well, but, he does it anyway. With Kuroo comes Kenma, a lot quieter. Pretty soon, everyone's singing it, and Akaashi stops to listen because they all know it, and they're so consumed in their infectious happiness they don't notice him stop.

"Why'd you stop?" Bokuto asks, and it catches Akaashi off guard.

"I, uh, I don't know? They looked happy and they had it down. I don't need to remind them how the song goes." Akaashi explains.

"I like listening. Oh! Speaking of, you STILL haven't shown me Carnation Point. I really want to hear it." Bokuto says quietly, but just loud enough to hear over the singing in the back.

"I just can't find the lyrics, that's all."

"You don't remember them?" 

"No, of course not, it's like a 5 minute song."

"Well, then sing what you do remember, or replace the lyrics with new ones! I just want to hear the sound. No rush though! It probably sounds like I want to hear it now and I mean like that'd be cool but you totally do NOT need to do it now I was just saying sometime before you leave again because I'll end up--" Bokuto is stopped by Kuroo pointing out a bar, and Akaashi pulls into the parking lot while most everyone runs inside. Bokuto and Kenma are the only two two to stay in the car.

"You aren't going in?"

"Not when you're still anxious about this entire thing. I rarely do anyways." Bokuto clarifies. Akaashi looks out his window to keep Bokuto from commenting on his increasingly red face. But his face is still pretty visible in the reflection so he just buries his face in his hands.

"Whoa, are you okay?" Bokuto asks, and when Akaashi pulls his hands away to respond, Bokuto's a lot closer than he thought he'd be, and his face immediately heats up again, and Bokuto shoots back into his seat, and leans his forehead against the dashboard. Why he does this, Akaashi doesn't want to know. He doesn't ask. Kenma snickers. 

"What?" Akaashi asks, twisting around to look at Kenma, and Kenma just sighs.

"I can see what Kuroo was saying." 

"...What the hell was he saying, I swear to god if he--"

"He was just saying you and Bokuto got along well. I guess he meant that in a few ways." Kenma answers, going back to his phone. Akaashi can only imagine how Kuroo feels when he comes back out and sees Akaashi with his hands over his face, obviously flustered, and Bokuto slouched over in his seat to rest his head on the dashboard. Luckily, Akaashi doesn't have to wonder long.

"Aww, did someone make a new friend while I was gone, Akaashi?"

"Kuroo, I will sue you and win."

"Actually, that's probably true, I won't argue." Kuroo answers quietly. Bokuto leans back in his seat and takes a deep breath.

"Alright, let's go." Bokuto says, back to his normal infectiously motivated tone of voice.

\--------------

Bokuto climbs onto the roof of the van once they're there. Not that he doesn't want to go mess with the construction workers by placing costume props under the dirt that make it seem like some ancient artifact has been discovered, because it had definitely been fun last time. He's just oddly blank on anything at the moment. He's not even sure he remembers his name. No, that's crazy, he remembers his name. Just... a general tiredness. Sort of like an out of body experience.

Being on top of a huge ass van doesn't really clarify anything either. He's just as confused as he was before Lev was casually carrying Kenma bridal style across the site. Akaashi had asked how he was doing before joining the group, and Bokuto had answered honestly, telling him he was just tired, probably because he didn't sleep well. Akaashi had seemed unconvinced, but left him be anyway.

Watching everyone interact in the oddest ways, without hearing the conversation for context is oddly comedic. For example, Shirofuku suddenly gets down on all fours in the middle of a conversation and starts trying to sprint over to the crane before she falls over and is thoroughly coated in dirt. 

Of course, it likely would've been funnier WITH context, because everyone starts visibly doubling over with laughter. Including Akaashi, and now Bokuto's getting off of the van, because like hell he's gonna miss anything else that makes Akaashi happy.

"Ahh, that was terrible! Why would- Bokuto! We need you to pick one." Akaashi smiles, moving to the side and pointing to the admittedly small pile of cheesy props.

"Just picking ANY one? I'll say... that obviously fake blue greek vase. That one."

"See?! I TOLD you he'd pick the vase." Kuroo grins, and Yaku throws a shoe at him. Bokuto notes that Yaku is still wearing both of his shoes, along with everyone else.

"We ARE still planning to hide these?" Akaashi asks, crossing his arms.

"Of course, that's what we planned to do!" Lev says, snatching a thin plastic chest armor piece that is obviously from a child's costume, and booking it to the corner of the lot.

"And after that?"

"I dunno... we'll probably drag race some asshole with Lev's van. Orrrr we could go start a bonfire." Kuroo says, as if these are both genius ideas. Watching Kuroo when he's not aware of what he's saying is undeniably the best thing yet.

"Oh! No! Let's go get tattoos. Matching tattoos." Shirofuku yells, digging a hole to put her chosen piece in.

"Ooh, yeaaaaahh. Like, snakes or something. We'll all get snakes. Or like, flames or something." Kuroo agrees, still sounding completely confident in what he's saying.

"As the driver, I am not stopping to let you get a snake tattoo." Akaashi chuckles, and Kuroo nods.

"Right. No snake tattoos." Kuroo sighs, and grabs the vase and a wood shield that was acquired two game nights ago, when they ran into a group of children playing swords and played with them. One of the children happily bestowed the shield upon Yaku, deeming him 'the ultimate swordsman'. However, any use of this nickname when Yaku can hear you results in a death stare that makes you feel as if you've already been punched in the face.

"I think the best thing about this whole thing is watching Kuroo react to different situations." Akaashi leans over and whispers, even though it's obvious no one would hear him if he said it aloud.

"I- he- why are we whispering? I'm confused?" Bokuto manages to stutter, getting irrationally loud towards the end. Akaashi looks surprised.

"I don't know. Sorry. It's just... a reflex for me I guess." Akaashi shrugs. Bokuto takes a deep breath.

"How is it a reflex?" Bokuto says, a lot quieter.

"When in a room full of the most popular celebrities in the world, the topic of conversation usually turns to the other celebrities, and you whisper, I suppose. Since that's the closest to this situation... I guess I picked it up." 

"If that's more familiar for you, it's fine." Bokuto says, smiling at Akaashi. Akaashi's attention is quickly redirected to Kuroo, who's loudly yelling things like 'I can't believe this' and 'have you ever READ a romance novel'.

"I have to go stop him before he says something insanely embarassing." Akaashi states, jogging away.

Pretty much everyone in this group knows everything about Kuroo, anything he could say would already be known. Unless it's some disgusting thing that's definitely too much information. But, Bokuto figures Akaashi doesn't know that, and is probably worried for Kuroo's wellbeing. Or maybe Akaashi just doesn't want to talk to Bokuto anymore. Who knows. Bokuto runs after Kuroo a second later only for Kuroo to dramatically stop and gasp.

"TRUTH OR DARE EXCEPT ONLY TRUTH." Kuroo yells, and Kenma looks confused.

"That's not the part of truth or dare everyone likes, Kuroo."

"Say what you want, Ken. You're just jealous you didn't think of it first."

"Pretty sure thousands of other people thought that up before you." Kenma shrugs, leaning on the van. Kuroo frowns.

"True... very true, Kenma. Thank you for bringing this to my attention." Kuroo mumbles, and sits down on the ground. Akaashi walks over, with Lev in tow, for some reason.

"Lev was trying to blow up the crane." Akaashi clarifies. Lev grins.

"Shirofuku said it'd be cool." Lev states. Shirofuku snorts.

"I was being sarcastic, you picklefuck." 

"I'm gonna use picklefuck forever." Yaku laughs.

"Did everyone hide their priceless artifacts?" Akaashi asks, and everyone gives a nonchalant shrug.

"Alright, what did we decide we were doing next?" Akaashi asks, obviously amused by everyone.

"Tattoos." Shirofuku says, completely convinced everyone agreed. Kuroo nods.

"But no snake tattoos."

"Ooh we should all get tattoos of our favorite celebrity's face." Lev suggests, and all of them look at Akaashi and laugh.

"Okay but how awkward would it be if one of did get a tattoo of Akaashi." Shirofuku says, and Akaashi sits down in the little circle that's gathered. Bokuto tentatively sits down a few seconds after him.

"Oho well I know who'd do THAT, now don't I?" Kuroo winks, doing a terrible job trying to hide the fact he's talking about Bokuto. Akaashi must not notice though, which is great.

"Have you ever met someone with a tattoo of your face, Akaashi?" Yaku asks, scooting closer to the middle of the circle.

"Oh, yeah. 5 times, actually. They all had different reasons for getting my face tattooed on them. 4 of the tattoos were decent, and one was just... messed up." Akaashi explains, and Bokuto just imagines Akaashi's face all warped tattooed on someone's arm and he starts bursting out laughing.

"Jesus, what's so funny?" Akaashi asks, a little thrown off.

"Sorry, I just can't imagine how you'd look in a tattoo." Bokuto answers, forcing himself to stop laughing. Akaashi sighs.

"I didn't need to imagine that, though, cause my face was apparently plastered on 5 lucky people's bodies." Akaashi laughs, and Bokuto grins.

"Speaking of tattoos, do any of you even have any?" Kenma asks, sitting down just outside the circle.

"I do. I have one. Right below my left boob." Shirofuku says proudly, and pulls her shirt up to show everyone a small black realistic heart right where she said it would be.

"I was going to get one, I made an appointment and everything but then I was like wait I'm not ready for this so I gave my appointment to Bokuto." Kuroo shrugs, and then everyone looks over at Bokuto.

"Do you have a tattoo, Bokuto?" Lev asks, and he looks like a 5 year old child with the way he's sitting.

"Okay, look, it's not even that cool." Bokuto says, genuinely hoping they move on, because to be honest, he got it because he was bored, and it's not necessarily something he feels he needs to bring up. 

"Wait, you have a tattoo?" Akaashi says, genuinely shocked.

"Yeah, but like I said it's not that cool." Bokuto scrunches his eyebrows together.

"It's on his back." Kuroo says, shooting finger guns at Akaashi.

"What is it? Can I see?" Shirofuku asks, and Bokuto sighs.

"It's nothing badass. You don't have to see it." Bokuto says sharply, and everyone quiets down. And then everyone's staring at him curiously, so he just stands up and pulls his shirt up off his back. When he pulls his shirt back down and sits again, they all just sort of shrug.

"The guns were good." Yaku comments, and Bokuto shrugs.

"I wouldn't know. I can't see it. Besides, I really only got it because Kuroo was paying for it. I just picked one off the wall."

"Do you regret it?" Lev asks.

"No. I just don't go around bringing it up at every opportunity."

"Well, raise your hand if you like Bokuto's tattoo." Kuroo says, and everyone raises their hand. Bokuto thanks them.

"No, but seriously, what are we doing next?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> golly jeepers sorry this took so long... actually it was gonna be longer but I just got new classes and spring quarter started.
> 
> again thanks for readin ily
> 
>  
> 
> ITS NOT OVER


	15. Right here with me

After a lot of really laid back arguing over where the hell they were going to go next, the deciding vote had come back to Akaashi, because he was the special guest. Akaashi sides with going to the lake. He's partially curious if the lake they're talking about is the same lake Bokuto threw his phone in. He doesn't ask, because he's sure if it is, the topic will come up at some point. And it does, halfway there, when Kuroo gets a text and makes a joke about it.

"Is that why I couldn't get a hold of Bokuto for a while?" Yaku asks, as if this is news to him.

"You were totally there, shitweed." Kuroo laughs, and Yaku scrunches his face up.

"Do you think it still works? Or like... do phones have ghosts?" Bokuto asks, turning around to look at everyone. This starts a long and pretty dumb debate about whether or not phones or computers are capable of feeling. No one wins, the topic just sort of dies down after Lev starts pointing out stray dogs. 

"Akaashi. Did you ever have a dog? Or are you more of a cat person? Snake person?" Kuroo says, and Kenma snorts.

"I had a cat and a dog when I was a lot younger but not recently, no." Akaashi answers, and Kuroo nods solemnly, staring out the window, as if this solves any problem he's ever had in his life.

"...So who's throwing their phone into the lake THIS time?" Shirofuku chuckles. 

"That's probably not a good tradition to have." Kenma replies, staring at his hand.

"Akaashi, do you want to throw your phone in the water?" Yaku asks, and everyone looks at him in confusion.

"Why are you asking me specifically?"

"I just think you'd probably have like, 8 phones." Yaku shrugs. Everyone seems to accept this as a reason.

"Flattering, but I only have 2."

"Yeah, but, one's for work, and you don't work anymore." Bokuto says. Akaashi stares at him.

"Do you all seriously need someone to throw a phone into the lake?"

"I mean, it would be pretty funny." Kuroo snickers. 

"I don't see the humor in it at all." Kenma says, completely confused.

"Neither do I." Akaashi sighs. 

"Akaashi, you don't actually have to slam dunk your phone into the lake. They'll forget about it in a few minutes." Bokuto laughs, and Akaashi grins.

"I wasn't planning on throwing it, never mind slam dunk it?"

"Well, the image of throwing a phone is pretty boring cause like, people do it all the time when they're angry, and so it's not as funny but like, just imagine someone angrily slam dunking it into the ground? I dont know, I think it'd be like, a million times funnier. Oh! Or they could like tape it to the front of a car and then crash the car." Bokuto explains enthusiastically.

"Now you're just coming up with ways to destroy phones." Akaashi huffs. Bokuto shrugs.

"But GOOD ways of destroying phones, right?"

"I suppose." 

"--IT WHAT THE FUCK?" Akaashi just barely registers Shirofuku yelling, before she gets shushed.

"MAYBE CHILL, SHIROFUKU?! I TOLD YOU IN CONFIDENCE, DON'T BLOW IT NOW!" Kuroo yells, and Shirofuku curses under her breath a few times before Yaku punches her arm.

"DOG!" Lev yells, pointing out the window, and everyone stops to look at it.

"That dog deserves the world." Shirofuku mutters, and Kuroo nods in agreement.

"Their ability to change subjects is impressive." Akaashi grins.

"That dog is impressive." Bokuto laughs, and Akaashi shrugs.

"Oh, turn left here. And then just find a place to park." Kenma says. And at this time in the day, parking isn't especially hard. And when Akaashi DOES park, it seems like everyone's already clamoring out the door. Lev books it towards the lake and no one tries to catch up to him because they probably couldn't. Everyone just mostly sits along the banks of the lake, and does stupid shit.

At one point, Shirofuku lights a tree on fire, and laughs evilly. At least until she realizes she just lit a tree on fire. Then everyone is using their jackets as some sort of makeshift bucket and tossing it on the tree. The fire is eventually put out, and Shirofuku kisses the tree and apologizes. Kuroo scolds her for doing it in the first place, and then proceeds to light his jacket on fire. This leads to him throwing it in the lake, and running in after it. 

"I'm so cold, Kenma." Kuroo complains, and Kenma looks confused.

"Okay? Maybe don't run into cold water and put a cold wet jacket on?"

"Give me your jacket, Kenma."

"No, what the fuck. No. It won't fit- no! Ah!" Kenma starts slapping at Kuroo's hands, and Kuroo continues shivering and asking Kenma for his jacket, and patting Kenma's head.

"Go ask Bokuto for HIS jacket! Don't- stop it!" Kenma pouts, and Kuroo whines, putting his hands in his pockets which definitely will NOT help him get warmer, and starts trudging over. Akaashi looks over at Bokuto, who's sitting a few feet in front of him, and has not done anything since arriving.

"Bokuto."

"Mm?" Bokuto leans his head back, looking at Akaashi.

"Why are you just sitting here?"

"Uh, what do you mean?" 

"You haven't done anything but sit here since we arrived, Bokuto." Akaashi tells him, and Bokuto turns around to look at him.

"I wanted to sit next to you?" Bokuto says, and Akaashi stares at him.

"That's not next to me, that's in front of me." Akaashi says after a minute. Bokuto seems to get flustered at this comment.

"Well if I sat there I'd end--"

"BOKUTO GIVE ME YOUR JACKET PLEASE SATAN'S CRUEL COLD HANDS HAVE GRIPPED ME AND I AM DYING." Kuroo yells, and Bokuto looks over at him.

"Of course, dude. Take off your jacket, that's why you're cold, man." Bokuto answers, standing up and taking his jacket off, and handing it to Kuroo as Kuroo throws his on the ground.

"You're a good friend, friend." Kuroo says, running back over to the group and pushing Yaku into the water, which is followed by a loud 'WHAT THE FUCK HELL?!' from Yaku.

"Now Yaku is gonna ask Kenma for his jacket, and Kenma is gonna send him over here again, and since I already gave Kuroo my jacket, he's gonna ask you, and if you give it to him, he's gonna freak out because he's wearing Akaashi Keiji's jacket, whaddya bet?" Bokuto says, staring over at Yaku, who's getting out of the water.

"I'll bet a car." Akaashi says, and Bokuto looks back at him.

"Shit, for real? I don't have a car to give you if I lose, though. Uh, would a, uh-" Bokuto proceeds to dig in his wallet, "would a cool flower work?" 

"Sure." Akaashi laughs, and Bokuto smiles all awkwardly and it's adorable. He sits down next to Akaashi, and he looks like some 8 year old who just got told they were going to get cake or something. How the hell someone could possibly be that genuinely happy to sit next to Akaashi is a mystery.

Akaashi watches Yaku run over to Kenma, and ask for his jacket. Kenma then groans and rolls his eyes, and points over at Akaashi and Bokuto. Yaku walks over and asks if he can borrow Akaashi's jacket and Akaashi obliges, giving him his jacket, Yaku thanks him and puts it on as he walks back over to Kenma and everyone else. He doesn't visibly freak out.

"Well you were mostly right." Akaashi says, and Bokuto purses his lips.

"Does that mean you get the flower and I get a car, or you just get the flower?"

"You can have the car you dented if you want it. I have enough cars."

"Wait, you're actually serious?" Bokuto asks, and Akaashi nods.

"Damn. Can- Can I? Cause then I could give MY car to Kuroo so he doesn't have to get a new one? Does it seem like I'm begging now? Probably. It must look like I'm using you to get a car, and that's NOT what I'm trying to do and I guess if--"

"Bokuto. You can have it. It's genuinely fine. A little disturbing that I can give away cars just like that, but it's fine." Akaashi tells him, and Bokuto drags his hands over his face and smiles at Akaashi.

"But! If you're actually giving me a car, you should also get the flower." Bokuto says, pulling a pressed little purple and white flower out of his wallet.

"I don't know why I have this, but here you go." Bokuto hands it to Akaashi, and Akaashi thanks him.

"Oh! Right!" Akaashi says, slapping his forehead, and Bokuto looks startled.

"You wanted me to sing that song." Akaashi explains, and Bokuto laughs.

"You didn't need to do it now, and besides, you said you didn't remember the lyrics."

"I'll sing you what I remember, so shush. Don't say I never did anything for you." Akaashi says, and Bokuto shrugs and looks at Akaashi expectantly. 

Akaashi clears his throat, and starts off slowly, trying to recall all the lyrics. He's only missing a few parts, but he's sure he could just fill them in. Eventually he gives up trying to remember them, and starts over again how he was supposed to. Bokuto doesn't seem to mind, and continues looking at Akaashi as if this is the best thing he's ever heard. Akaashi just hums the parts he doesn't remember, and it actually sort of fits. 

Kuroo runs over, and does some sort of baseball slide to sit down. Akaashi continues nonetheless. Bokuto doesn't notice Kuroo. Pretty quickly, everyone else rushes over, just a few seconds before Akaashi finishes. They all make some dejected sound like they need to hear it again.

"It sounds a lot better with piano." Akaashi puts his hands out and smiles. Everyone applauds, and Kuroo sits up, and it looks like he's about to say something but Bokuto interrupts him.

"Why didn't you ever release that one?"

"All the studios didn't like the sound. And at that point I was just hoping ANY of them would accept me, so I changed the sound, and then they all fought over who got to sign me and at the time, it was flattering." Akaashi explains.

"Well I liked that one! But- it's- its not like I don't like any of your other songs! Those are good, too! I just- I think this one's nicer..." Bokuto says, and then lays down on his back and covers his face.

"I agree with Bokuto, man. Coming from your number 1 biggest fan, that shit is good. If I say so myself." Kuroo says, and he sounds like he could fall asleep at any time.

"Alright, thank you, thank you. But, it's nearly 1 am. We should get you all home." Akaashi says, and Yaku snorts.

"You sound like a daycare mom." Yaku snickers, and then breaks out into full on laughter as if that was the funniest thing he's ever said.

"Okay, still. Get in the car." Akaashi says, standing up and gesturing to the car. Everybody runs over to the car, and Bokuto pretty much sprints ahead of everyone to get in the front seat again.

"Lev, how are you getting home?" Bokuto asks, climbing into his seat.

"I dunno, my mom can probably get me."

"What about your van?" Yaku asks, and Lev looks confused.

"Why would my mom drive my van?"

"Lev. He MEANS how will you get your van back home." Shirofuku says, rubbing her temples.

"Oh! Yeah. Pfft. Right. My mom, probably."

"Lev... that's not..." Kuroo sighs, and that basically marks the end of the conversation, before everyone starts falling asleep. Kenma keeps making sounds of discomfort when Yaku and Shirofuku fall asleep on him, which causes one of them to wake up and apologize and then fall asleep on him again. A vicious cycle.

"Do you really think you'll never go back to singing, Akaashi?" Bokuto yawns.

"I don't think I will. It just isn't appealing to me at all. Just thinking about doing it again makes me feel exhausted."

"Mm." Bokuto responds.

"Well, maybe you should give speeches or something. You have a nice speaking voice too, I think. It'd be a shame not to use it. Or, no. You don't have to. Maybe you could, like... read to children or something..." Bokuto says, and it's obvious he's falling asleep. Akaashi is far too used to compliments pertaining to his voice, but he still thanks Bokuto.

"But your voice isn't the only great thing about you, though. Don't think that, because that's just... it's fuckin dumb." Bokuto mutters, as if Akaashi had voiced his thoughts out loud. Akaashi would usually stutter some dumb question to change the subject away from him, but Bokuto's essentially asleep. Kenma laughs.

"You should just kiss him." Kenma mumbles.

"Shut up." Akaashi responds, his voice cracking.

\-------------

Bokuto wakes up on the floor of his living room, near the door. He has a large bruise on his shin, for some reason. Akaashi is laying on the kitchen counter, holding a fork against his nose and kicking his legs up, while reading some book. God, Bokuto loves him.

"What- what are you reading?" Bokuto asks, and Akaashi jumps off the counter.

"It's, uh... I don't know. One of Kuroo's romance novels, there's really... really not anything else around here." Akaashi looks embarassed, and he rubs at the back of his neck.

"Mm." Bokuto agrees.

"Why is that the first thing you ask when you wake up on the floor, nowhere near the couch, with one shoe off?"

"Not to mention the new bruise. Wait- my shoe IS gone! I didn't even notice."

"Yeah. Kuroo and I carried you up the stairs, and we may have hit your shin. Apologies for that. I couldn't wake you, and Kuroo gave up trying to carry you once inside, so I guess I just left you there and forgot. Sorry for THAT." Akaashi explains, and Bokuto stands up.

"Please tell me Kuroo wasn't coherent when he helped you carry me up the stairs." Bokuto asks.

"He might've been? Why?" Akaashi asks, walking over.

"Damn. Now he's gonna want ME to carry HIM somewhere."

"Who doesn't want you to carry them, Bokuto?" 

"Are you implying you want me to carry you? Because I will. I totally will." Bokuto says happily.

"I'm not saying I DON'T want you to carry me, if that helps."

"It does not. But seriously, last time he carried me somewhere, he made me carry him on a walk all the way to Kenma's store and back." Bokuto tells Akaashi, and Akaashi looks impressed.

"Did you actually manage to carry him that far?"

"Oh yeah. I just didn't want to do it that day, because my favorite show was on, and the walk takes 45 minutes back and forth. So. Bit of advice, don't ever owe Kuroo a favor."

"Mm." Akaashi says, and it looks like he's unfocused.

"You okay there?" Bokuto asks, tilting his head a bit. Akaashi coughs and waves his hand around.

"I'm fine! Yeah. I'm good." Akaashi's face goes red, and then he presses the book on his face to try and hide it. Bokuto looks away when he hears Kuroo kick his door open.

"Akaashi, oh my god." Kuroo blurts, running over, tapping at his phone.

"What?" 

"One second."

"Kuroo, you're the one who came running out of your room to tell me something." Akaashi sighs.

"Okay, okay. So, there's a bunch of people who have been sort of obsessed with figuring out how Bokuto and I tie in with you, and uh, one of them managed to find our address? Okay- yeah- I KNOW. So, like... I don't know how fast this information is gonna spread, or how fast it'll be before we have to get a new door, but uh, you should probably go."

"Is it really that bad if you're seen with us?"

"Bokuto. It's not bad to be seen with you. In fact, I would love to have you be seen with me all the time. I'll stay until 3:00 because my pilot needs at least 3 hours to get here, not to mention an hour notice, so." Akaashi says, throwing the book on the couch.

"Do you have to leave, though?" Bokuto asks, fiddling with his hands. He definitely doesn't want Akaashi to leave, because every time Akaashi leaves for a bit, it turns into two months, and then that turns into three. Bokuto doesn't want to be away from Akaashi for more than an hour, nonetheless 3 months.

"I would've had to leave to take care of my things at the house, and your car eventually, Bokuto. I'll be back within a month, it'll be fine."

"What is this about a car?" Kuroo asks.

"I'm giving Bokuto the car you two dented. You get Bokuto's old car." Akaashi clarifies. Kuroo grins and gives a thumbs up.

"Uh, which phone do I call or text?" Bokuto asks.

"Bokuto, I doubt you've forgotten. My personal phone. You're both friends, I don't see why you'd call my business phone."

"Yes. We're... GOOD friends. Nothing else. Zip. Nada." Kuroo says, and stares at Bokuto. Bokuto kicks Kuroo in the shin. Kuroo laughs.

"So, I suggest we leave now, so none of us are here when everyone starts showing up." Akaashi answers.

"What should we do then?" 

"Well, first off, Bokuto, brush your hair and maybe style it again, sleeping on the floor makes it all... mfeh." Kuroo flails his arms in some gesture. Akaashi nods.

"You're one to speak, Kuroo." Bokuto laughs and Kuroo lunges at him.

"YOUR MOM IS ONE TO SPEAK!" Kuroo yells. Bokuto walks over to Akaashi again.

"Should I style it or no?" Bokuto asks, and Akaashi shrugs.

"It looks fine either way." 

"Alright, I guess I'll leave it like it is then." Bokuto grins, and Akaashi smiles. Kuroo stares at them both.

"I know. Let's go to the theme park. It's right by the airfield!"

"I haven't been to a theme park since I was 6." Akaashi states. Bokuto looks over in shock.

"Akaashi! We have to go then! Get a coat, we're going!" Bokuto yells, running into his room and grabbing a different shirt and a jacket. Akaashi keeps staring at him while he changes his shirt and he doesn't know whether he should be flattered or embarassed. Probably embarassed. Akaashi startles himself out of it and nervously laughs.

"Sorry, just thinking. Yeah. So, how long does it take to get there?" Akaashi asks, turning to look at Kuroo.

"Less than an hour, don't worry."

Bokuto still feels awkward about having Akaashi ride in his car, because why would you have someone as great and beautiful as him, in a car as shitty and rickety as that. 

"Bokuto? Are you coming? For someone who wanted to go so quickly a minute ago, you don't even have your shoes on."

"Yes! Right! I'll be out in a second." Bokuto answers, and Akaashi nods, grabbing his dark blue jacket. Bokuto just now notices Akaashi's jacket has a lot of tiny lilac flowers patterned on it. Sort of like the one he gave Akaashi. Bokuto quickly shoves his shoes on, and runs out to the car, shutting the door behind him.

Akaashi's turned towards the back of the car, telling Kuroo something, and Kuroo laughs and lies down. Bokuto runs over and gets in.

"Alright, here we go, off towards the best day of Akaashi's life! Since he met us, at least." Kuroo says, and when Akaashi looks back at him, Kuroo makes an innocent face.

"Oh man, if only you two knew what I knew. If only." Kuroo mutters. This time, both Akaashi and Bokuto look back at him, and all he does is stare at them smugly. Bokuto's suddenly caught up thinking about what the hell Akaashi told Kuroo that Akaashi didn't tell Bokuto. Not that it bothers him. Or, yeah. It does. But he's not going to go digging. 

"So, Akaashi. How are you liking the book so far?" Kuroo inquires.

"What book? The one I was reading inside?" 

"Yeah, what else?"

"Well, the plot is dumb. All they keep doing is staring at each other and sighing lustfully. I think that was an actual sentence in the book. I don't know how you read that constantly. It's so badly written." Akaashi tells him, and Kuroo gasps.

"Not ALL romance novels are terribly written, Akaashi!" Kuroo whines.

"Oh, for sure. Just most of them." Akaashi grins.

"Apply cold water to that burn, Kuroo." Bokuto laughs.

Bokuto mostly just listens to Akaashi and Kuroo politely argue the rest of the trip.

Once there, the guy at the ticket stand turns out to be a huge Akaashi fan, and nervously asks for a picture, and Kuroo offers to take it. Bokuto awkwardly stands to the side. The ticket guy then says they can go in without purchasing anything, but Akaashi insists, and pays for everyone. The ticket guy waves happily as they go in.

"It smells like fast food." Akaashi mutters.

"Akaashi, it smells like fun." Kuroo laughs evilly, and then says something to Akaashi really quietly. Akaashi looks confused for a second and then he nods a little slowly. Kuroo runs back over to Bokuto, who, at this point, is doubting whether he's Akaashi's friend or not.

"Bokuto. Will you be chill if I leave you and Akaashi alone?"

"Oh, yeah. Probably. Is that what you asked Akaashi?" Bokuto asks, and Kuroo nods. Bokuto sighs in relief, the sick feeling in his stomach settling.

"Okay so have fun you should make out bye!" Kuroo says and then quickly runs away. Bokuto does think today would be a good day to tell Akaashi, before he has to leave, but any time he gets near Akaashi his entire brain slows down, it seems. And he doesn't want to be saying the word hey for an hour, and then have Akaashi leave.

"Bokuto, I need your help." Akaashi yells, and Bokuto runs over, basically tripping over himself a few times in the process.

"Yes!"

"So, I want to get to that part of the park, but on the map here it says it's RIGHT over there, and it's not. And if you've been here before, I figured...?" Akaashi asks, putting his free hand on his hip.

"Well, that depends, what did you want to get to on that side of the park?"

"Let's just say I want to get to the center of that side."

"So you want to get to the big water ride thing?" Bokuto asks, leaning over and looking at the map.

"Yes, that." Akaashi says, flustered. Bokuto crosses his arms.

"Okay, so, uh... there's an escalator over there, and it should take us down a bit, and from there we walk straight forward and, uh, to the right a little. Should be like a 3 minute walk." Bokuto shrugs, and Akaashi nods, before starting off towards the escalator. Bokuto rushes after him.

"Do you like it so far?" Bokuto asks, clasping his hands behind his back, and watching Akaashi tap at the map in his hands.

"I don't know, Bokuto. I haven't done anything but buy tickets yet." Akaashi mutters. Bokuto huffs.

"Oh! I like your jacket! I was going to tell you in the car, but I was driving and if- uh, yeah. Yeah. The little flowers are nice." Bokuto quiets down the longer he speaks.

"Thank you. Can I ask why you didn't finish?" Akaashi asks, and Bokuto looks over at him.

"Didn't finish what?" Bokuto inquires, and Akaashi sighs.

"Your sentence? You stopped and cut yourself off mid-sentence." 

"Oh, I... didn't think you'd want to hear it. Usually I'm told to shut up, or be quiet. And I mean- OH! This one time an old man told me I was dumb and stupid because I kept talking when no one wanted to hear it and wouldn't shut up." Bokuto tells him.

"Well, I would like to hear whatever you have to say no matter what it is, so that old man can go fuck himself." Akaashi smiles and nods. Bokuto is both really confused and really happy.

"Thanks, Akaashi!" Bokuto beams, and Akaashi squishes the map closer to him.

"Of course." Akaashi states.

And once they get to the ride, Akaashi looks both irritated and confused about the long line for it.

"No- but- Ak- Akaashi. It's- yes. You have to wait in line." 

"This would be a good time to use my celebrity status." Akaashi says, getting in line.

"Do you want to?"

"I'm just a person, I don't need to have any special treatment."

"Alright but if anyone points you out and clears a path, I'm takin it." Bokuto laughs, and Akaashi drops his head and smiles, lifting it back up with a hand over half his face, and Bokuto must just stop functioning then, because Akaashi gets startled.

"What? What's wrong?" Akaashi asks. Bokuto looks at him.

"Akaashi, I really--"

"OH MY GOD, IT'S AKAASHI KEIJI!" Some fucking asshole yells, and Bokuto steps back and screams into his hands.

"Bokuto, you realize at least one person is taking a picture right now. You could be on a magazine, looking like you're about to have a nervous breakdown." Akaashi laughs, and Bokuto pulls his hands off to look at Akaashi. Akaashi stops.

"Take off your jacket." Akaashi says, looking over at the people who are now taking thousands of pictures and screaming at him.

"Uhm... Could- Why?" Bokuto feels his face heat up, and Akaashi coughs.

"Just please, take it off." Akaashi says, and Bokuto takes off his jacket. Akaashi thanks him, and then leans over to tell him something. 

"I needed you to take it off so it'd be harder for magazines to use the photo." Akaashi says quietly, and Bokuto turns toward him.

"How is me being jacketless going to help?" Bokuto asks, and Akaashi points to his shirt.

"It's got a brand name on it. They'll have to edit it out or blur it." Akaashi says, turning back to look at Bokuto again. Bokuto startles back a few inches when he realizes just how close Akaashi is.

"Bokuto, are you alright? You keep getting jumpy." Akaashi tells him, putting his hand over his mouth.

"Yes, I'm fine! Yeah!"

A few minutes later, they're on the ride, and once it's finished, Akaashi gets really quiet.

"You didn't like it?" Bokuto questions him.

"No! I..." Akaashi twists at the map, and bites his lip. 

"Do you- could we do it again?" Akaashi asks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so so sorry I took forever 
> 
> STILL NOT THE END


	16. I just wanna be the kind of

Four times, Bokuto tries to tell Akaashi how he feels about him and four times, some sort of invisible force keeps it from happening. The third time, Bokuto had been trying to write it down, and someone tried to throw their cigarette in the trash can, and it missed and proceeded to light the paper on fire. How does that even happen?

But, now, Akaashi's staring out the car window at his plane, and Bokuto is internally beating the shit out of himself.

"So, I'll call you when I've landed, yeah?"

"Uh, yeah. Yeah." Bokuto splutters, and Kuroo claps.

"Akaashi, don't forget my birthday is soon!" Kuroo yells, as Akaashi gets out.

"Your birthday isn't for at least 3 more months, I know that." Akaashi sighs. Kuroo crosses his arms.

"I really thought that would work."

"Bokuto, yours is next month, correct?" Akaashi asks. Bokuto nods. Akaashi looks like he's about to respond, but his pilot yells for him.

"Well, I've got to go. Someone will bring you your car!" Akaashi yells, running off towards the plane. Kuroo clicks his tongue.

"Should've kissed him, dude." Kuroo sighs. 

"I knooooow." Bokuto says, sliding down in his seat and putting his hands over his face.

"You should've like, made out with him." Kuroo tells him, climbing up into the passenger seat.

"I KNOW."

"You should've just totally made out with him, and made me leave the car or something. I would've awkwardly talked to the pilot."

"I know." Bokuto sighs, sitting back up and starting the car.

"I mean, even I knew that would've been the perfect time to kiss him, and you just kind of... sat and waited. Little depressing, man."

"Thank you, I understand." 

"Probably could've just--"

"Okay, let's stop talking about that." Bokuto interrupts. Kuroo immediately stops talking, and throws his arms up in surrender. There's a good ten minutes of silence.

"Out of all of the people we know, who is the most likely to swim in a pool of syrup for free." Kuroo asks, and Bokuto taps at the steering wheel.

"I'm gonna say... Lev. Or maybe Shirofuku." Bokuto answers.

"Yeah, I'd vote Lev, too. Now YOU ask ME a ridiculous question." Kuroo shrugs, leaning back.

"Uh, who is more likely to steal a fruit roll up from a wolf?"

"That's an oddly specific question, and I'm gonna say me. The wolf deserves it." Kuroo chuckles.

"Okay, who would call their vacuum cleaner 'sugar mama'?" Kuroo asks.

"The only person who actually OWNS a vacuum cleaner is Kenma, so I'm voting Kenma. Although, I feel like I'd call my vacuum cleaner sugar mama."

"Agreed." Kuroo nods. Someone drives by blaring some dumb rap music, and Kuroo rolls down his window and screams bloody murder at them.

"If I can't blare Akaashi's music, they can't blare whatever trash music THAT was."

"Have you actually played Akaashi's music that loud?" Bokuto asks, and Kuroo looks over at him with amusement.

"I don't know, have I?"

"You have. I guarantee it."

"You'd be RIGHT. I got pulled over. I charmed the officer into letting me go." Kuroo grins.

"I doubt you can charm anything, dude. It was probably out of pity." Bokuto laughs.

"Damn, dude. That hurts me. I'm HURT. Wounded. I'll never be the same. They were wrong. Words DO hurt, and I never expected to be hurt by my very--"

"Stop being a crotchety old man that smells like butter." 

"Bo, where the hell do you come up with your insults, because that made basically 0 sense."

"I make them up in this wonderful place called fuck you-topia. It's a wonderful place with some very creative, and very angry people."

"I swear you have like, no filter sometimes." Kuroo shakes his head, putting his feet up on the dashboard.

"Is that bad or good?"

"Mostly good. Sometimes bad." 

"Mm."

The rest of the ride is full of useless conversation, and Bokuto successfully avoids the topic of Akaashi, and completely forgets to check his phone until he's laying on the couch whining, and Kuroo asks if Akaashi's said anything yet. And then Bokuto essentially backflips off the couch to grab his phone, and turns it on.

From: A.K.  
You should get your car within the next two days.

From: A.K.  
That sounds insensitive now that I read it, because I'm pretty sure I didn't properly say goodbye.

From: A.K.  
Either way, you'll get your car soon.

From: A.K.  
Kuroo just texted me saying you're whining, and I'm curious what you're whining about.

To: A.K.  
i was whining cause its more fun when youre around and now you wont be back for like three more months

To: A.K.   
and also cause i didnt get to ask if you liked the theme park

From: A.K.  
I did like the theme park, I thought that was obvious. And I said I'd be gone a month, not three.

To: A.K.  
yeah but as soon as its been a month something will come up and then youll be gone another few months

From: A.K.  
It's not my fault these things come up, Bokuto.

From: A.K.  
I don't know why you're worried.

To: A.K.  
i know its not your fault im not saying it is it just seems like that happens everytime

From: A.K.  
I've noticed it, as well. However, I swear I'll be back over there in a month, even if the apocalypse starts. Trust me on that.

To: A.K.  
alright

To: A.K.  
do you ever think about how i only really met you because ive got no sense of direction and your manager guy was a jerk

From: A.K.  
Yes, of course. But it's not like I would've completely ignored you either. I'm pretty sure you or Kuroo yelled at me during that concert. I remember responding.

To: A.K.  
so you think you wouldve met me anyway

From: A.K.  
I think Kuroo would've devised some plan to meet me, and you likely would've been involved.

From: A.K.  
So, I believe I most likely would still have met you. It's just a matter of whether or not I'd still find you interesting, if that had happened.

To: A.K.  
yeah i guess

To: A.K.  
you thought i was interesting

To: A.K.  
what else did you think i was i wanna know

From: A.K.  
I thought you were interesting, a little odd, and either really clever or really clueless. 

To: A.K.  
cool

And then Kuroo yells at him about some fruit or something and Bokuto just screams.

To: The Cool Friend™  
i hate you

From: The Cool Friend™  
look, i dont kno WHO did this, but theres enough fruit in the toilet 2 make a goddamn fruit salad????? w h y

To: The Cool Friend™  
we never buy fruit

From: The Cool Friend™  
i bet it was fuckin' Yaku. he has it out for me, i stg.

To: The Cool Friend™  
it wasnt yaku chill it was probably shirofuku because she always has fruit in her purse remember

From: The Cool Friend™  
oh right. who keeps fruit in their purse, even?? also im literally in the other room, why are u textin me???? save ur messages for ur bf, my dude.

Bokuto stands up, and sets his phone down on the counter.

"HE'S NOT MY BOYFRIEND, KUROO."

"He gonna be, soon." Kuroo says, laughing evilly.

"Are you doing your weird matchmaker thing again? That hasn't worked once." 

"What? No, Akaashi told me not to. And shut up, it worked once. At that coffee place that one time." Kuroo says, walking out into view.

"Uh, two things. Akaashi told you not to play matchmaker? And also, the couple was already dating, they just didn't want to tell you. They told me while you were outside."

"They were not!" Kuroo gasps, as if this ruins his imaginary career as a matchmaker.

"They were, and you still haven't answered my question." Bokuto states, and Kuroo shrugs.

"What question?" Kuroo asks, walking over and turning on the television. Bokuto's pretty sure Kuroo is just trying to stall.

"Akaashi asked you not to play matchmaker?" Bokuto asks, and Kuroo clears his throat.

"Ah, no. You misheard me. It was- Kenma told me not to be matchmaker." Kuroo turns the TV up.

"I'm 100% sure you said Akaashi. Besides, Kenma doesn't seem like he's THAT invested in all this, from what I've seen. Of course, I could be wrong, and Kenma might be in it to win it."

"Yes, that. You're wrong and Kenma definitely wants you two together." Kuroo grins and stares at the TV.

"You're completely sure Akaashi never mentioned anything like that to you?"

"Mmmm... maybe like, 87% sure? Not completely denying he's said anything, but mostly denying." Kuroo mutters.

"Shit, really? What'd he say? What did he ask you?"

"I'm sorry, dude. I promised not to tell. Just like I promised you I wouldn't tell him what YOU said." Kuroo sighs.

"Are you implying he said the same thing as me?" Bokuto asks, and he's suddenly really impatient.

"What? No! I- It- no. I'm not saying that. I'm MERELY saying that whatever he may or may not have said is under the lock and key of my mind."

"Kuroo, please. Please tell meeeeee." Bokuto whines. Kuroo looks at him for a second, as if actually contemplating it.

"No, I... I really can't, Bokuto." 

"Alright, fine. I understand. Damn." Bokuto mutters, and sets his forehead on the back of a chair. Kuroo pats his back.

"There, there, bud." Kuroo sighs.

"Oh! Hey! You could always ask Akaashi on your birthday? I'm sure he'd answer then. He's got to. It's like, your birthday." Kuroo blurts enthusiastically.

"Mm."

\------------

Akaashi is dreading going back. Partially because this whole house business is nearly sorted out already, which probably means he'll have to stay somewhere else part of the month. And partially because leaving means at least a month of not being around Bokuto, which, as annoying as it seems while he's WITH Bokuto, is even more annoying when all you want to do is think about it.

Akaashi doesn't know WHY exactly he has to be gone for a month, he could just come back for a few days, and then head back. That seems plausible. But then, of course, something would come up with the house, or his parents would actually call him for once, asking for money, which is all they ever ask about.

So, a month.

That's not impossible. It's not like Akaashi hasn't been away for a month before. In fact, he's been away for MORE than a month before, so why the hell is he so stressed out about this particular month? There's nothing--

From: Kuroo.  
i may or may not have accidentally maybe told ur lil crush that u said somethin about playin matchmaker????

To: Kuroo.  
Are you joking.

From: Kuroo.  
nope. nada. no. negatory.

To: Kuroo.   
Please tell me you fixed it, and if not, what happened?

From: Kuroo.  
well lil one do not worry 4 i believe i fixed it all up and he doesnt kno shit.

To: Kuroo.  
Alright.

From: Kuroo.  
but i may have accidentally done some matchmaker things as well so ye,.

To: Kuroo.  
What did you 'accidentally' do, Kuroo?

From: Kuroo.  
i told h

From: Kuroo.  
i told him he should ask u about it on his bday????

To: Kuroo.  
I swear to god.

From: Kuroo.  
this way u dont even hav 2 give him a gift u just confess ur feelings and u both live happily 4ever.

From: Kuroo.  
the best gift: love.

To: Kuroo.  
Do you remember one of the first things I said in this conversation?

From: Kuroo.  
lemme go back and read it again 2 retrain that brain

From: Kuroo.  
dear sweet goose jesus plz do not hire a hitman i am a mere farmer tending 2 my frail crops i have 5 children and thwy're all dyin of dysentery

To: Kuroo.  
I will.

From: Kuroo.  
PLE AS NO!!!

And Akaashi leaves Kuroo on that note. The pilot announces that he'll be landing in a few minutes. Akaashi just sits and rereads his entire text message conversation with Bokuto, which is the largest conversation on his phone. Of course, this is out of about 4 conversations. Akaashi figures even if there were more conversations, Bokuto's would still be the first one on the list. By the time he's done, the pilot has already landed, and is waiting to escort Akaashi to his car.

Since when does Akaashi need an escort to walk 10 feet to a car? After staying around Kuroo and Bokuto for this long, he can definitely see where the line between usefulness and excessiveness blurs. At this point, everything seems excessive. Why does he own a plane? Why hasn't he gotten rid of that shitty reminder of a house sooner?

Akaashi ignores the thought that he probably just bought all of it hoping someone other than the press would notice, and pay attention to him and not his money. Guess that didn't happen. 

Once in the car, the driver asks if Akaashi wants the radio on, and Akaashi tells him he can turn it on if he wants. The driver turns it on, quietly. Akaashi leans on the door of the car, and holds his hand to his jaw, his fingernails digging into his cheek.

"Sir, is there anything I can do for you?" The driver asks, a few minutes later, snapping Akaashi out of whatever space he was in.

"How much do you get paid for this job?" Akaashi responds. The man laughs.

"Not much over minimum wage, if you can believe it. But, I do get some nice stories to tell." He tells him.

"Mm. Do you have any family?"

"Ah, yeah. I have 2 kids, and my wife is currently on a business trip somewhere." The man chuckles.

"That's nice." Akaashi smiles. The man nods, and most of the rest of the trip is spent in silence, excluding the sound of the radio. Akaashi writes him a check for probably a lot more money than anyone needs, and thanks him. He hears the guy stop suddenly a couple seconds later, probably after looking at the check. Akaashi shakes his head and smiles, typing in the code and walking in his gate. The house is too big.

It's too big, and it's too extravagant. It's too much for one person. Why the hell does he have this thing? God, how did he look when Bokuto and Kuroo first saw this place? 

He probably looked like some rich asshole who wanted to show off his wealth. He still does. Akaashi sits down in the middle of the dark foyer, leaning over himself.

Jesus, who the fuck would want to be friends with him? He's not interesting, or funny, or even nice. He's just good at singing and paying for things. You could probably replace him with a broken ATM and no one would notice. Why is it always so dark in here? Why can't Akaashi ever sleep in this godforsaken shitty mansion?

Shit, why does he even HAVE friends? He obviously doesn't deserve them. All he ever does is stand around and listen. Why does anyone ever like him? Because they want to be like him? Because they want their face splattered on every fucking popular magazine, only to have big yellow words telling letters plastered over it? Because they think it'll be fun to deal with every single shitty manager and studio possible, learning how NOT to speak? It's not fun, and no one ever actually likes Akaashi anyway, so why the fuck does THAT matter?

From: Bokuto.  
i was gonna say good night but i realized i hadnt said goodbye and thats pretty dumb so first off theres that and second good night

From: Bokuto.   
also kuroo says he wants a bigger apartment for his birthday but if im being honest you should just give him a rubber fish we dont need a bigger apartment

To: Bokuto.  
Damn, is it really 10:30 already?

From: Bokuto.  
yes why is that a special time or something

To: Bokuto.  
No, I've just... been sitting in my foyer for 45 minutes.

From: Bokuto.  
did you fall asleep or do you mean you literally just sat there

From: Bokuto.  
did you sleep well while you were here

To: Bokuto.  
I slept fine, Bokuto. I was just sitting.

From: Bokuto.  
i cant imagine sitting in one place that long 

From: Bokuto.  
unless you were playing a game or something

To: Bokuto.  
I was just thinking, Bokuto.

From: Bokuto.  
are you okay

To: Bokuto.  
I'm texting you, so I would say yes?

From: Bokuto.  
no i mean i noticed that whenever youre alone you like to pick at yourself so i mean are you okay in that way

To: Bokuto.  
No.

And with that, Akaashi's phone dies, and the sound of new messages is gone, and suddenly the house sounds like some hollow shell again, and he can hear the rain outside.

Akaashi stands up, and takes a deep breath. It's both comforting and tiring that Bokuto remembers these things. Of course, Akaashi remembers thousands of different things that Bokuto does, so maybe it's not that odd.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please save me I am a very unmotivated individual drowning in homework 
> 
> I love you though so I'll keep you from suffering while also encouraging it
> 
> (RETURN OF THE TEXTING)


	17. Please

Akaashi hasn't called Bokuto yet. It's been 3 and a half weeks since he left. Of course, he has been sending him messages. It's not because he doesn't want to talk to Bokuto, it's because Akaashi's sure if he hears Bokuto, he's going to break down. Bokuto had asked why he hadn't called, and Akaashi had typed up a message explaining why, but had ultimately decided to just tell him he's been busy. This doesn't stop Bokuto from calling every other day.

From: Bokuto.  
hey akaashi

From: Bokuto.  
did you forget you were supposed to come over in like a week

To: Bokuto.  
Of course not. I'm just trying to figure out how I can stay there when I get there.

From: Bokuto.  
i thought you bought a house or somethin though

To: Bokuto.  
I looked at one house, and about four apartment buildings. I'll have a place to stay, don't worry.

From: Bokuto.  
alright coolio 

From: Bokuto.  
okay so i think kuroo is plannin something secret for my birthday cause hes acting weird so could you ask him and tell me what he's gonna do

To: Bokuto.  
If he's planning something secret, shouldn't it stay secret?

From: Bokuto.  
well he acts weird half the time anyway so i just wanna know if its birthday related or if hes just his normal self

From: Bokuto.  
pleeeeaaaaassseee ask hiiiiimmmmm ill let you have one of my presents

To: Bokuto.  
You usually get gifts?

From: Bokuto.  
like two but ill give you one i swear 

Akaashi laughs, and pushes the door of whatever coffee shop this is, open. It's odd, and sort of cramped with furniture, but he really just wants a place to sit, so the fact there's over two couches is good. Once he's actually found a spot he texts Kuroo.

To: Kuroo.  
Are you planning anything for Bokuto's birthday?

From: Kuroo.  
bitch what the fuck???

From: Kuroo.  
no i'm not planning anything?? holy jesus fuck.

From: Kuroo.  
how many people have 2 ask me if i'm planning anything in the next 24 hours? 

To: Kuroo.  
Bokuto told me to ask.

From: Kuroo.  
ah yes.... of course.

From: Kuroo.  
the answer is NO, my dude. i've got nothing planned.

Akaashi turns off his phone and taps his fingers on the back of it. He's clueless as to how he's going to talk to Bokuto in person about this entire thing. Which is stupid to think about, he's talked to thousands of people, in thousands of different ways. Of course, he hasn't asked anyone anything like this in what, 6 years? Probably more. Maybe it's just best if he doesn't bring it up at all, and just let this whole thing be. That always seems to work out well. Sort of. Akaashi wonders if he can get Kuroo to tell Bokuto. Akaashi can't tell whether Kuroo would tell Bokuto instantaneously, or if he'd tell Akaashi to do it himself.

To: Kuroo.  
I have a question, and it's strictly hypothetical.

From: Kuroo.  
go ahead, dude.

To: Kuroo.  
If I asked you to tell Bokuto about me, how would you respond?

From: Kuroo.  
i'd probably thrOW MY PHONE AT HIS FACE AND TELL HIM 2 READ THIS CONVERSATION.

To: Kuroo.  
Please tell me that's not what you would actually do.

From: Kuroo.  
nah, i'd say that ur acting like a 12 year old by asking me 2 do it but i'd probably do it if u rlly wanted me 2.

To: Kuroo.  
Good to know.

From: Kuroo.  
do u want me 2??? i will.

To: Kuroo.  
Not right now, maybe later.

From: Kuroo.  
i feel u my guy.

From: Kuroo.  
o shit i gotta go im suppose d to be working bye!

And with that, Akaashi is stopped, and he turns his phone off again, lying back against the seat.

"Akaashi Keiji!" A girl yells from across the shop, also pointing him out, as if her yelling his name wasn't enough. Everyone looks over at him, but most of them go back to whatever they were doing. The girl runs over and greets him.

"Sorry for calling you out! I just haven't met anyone famous before!" She apologizes profusely. Akaashi assures her it's fine.

"Ah! I work here, did you want anything, I'll get it for you!" She smiles brightly and Akaashi shakes his head.

"No, I mostly just came here to sit. Thank you for the offer though." He smiles, and she nods.

"I like your skirt." She says, and Akaashi thanks her again.

"Do you wear skirts often?" She asks, sitting across from him.

"Oh, no. I only have one or two, and I haven't worn them in years, so I figured I'd try to wear one before I move, because I'll likely have to get rid of a lot." He answers, and she giggles.

"Well, that one's nice, but I think it'd look better if you tucked your shirt into it, and maybe wore a necklace? That's just my opinion though. I'm no fashion expert." She tells him.

"Hmm. Like this?" Akaashi stands up and pulls his shirt into it. She smiles.

"Yeah! Could I get a picture of you, actually?" She asks quietly and Akaashi grins.

"Sure, only if you tell me what sort of necklace you were thinking would work."

"Maybe a pearl necklace? That or a ruby pendant maybe?" She tells him, pulling her phone out and holding it up. Akaashi smiles, and she takes a picture.

"Thank you. And before you ask, no, I don't care what you do with the picture, it's yours." Akaashi says, and she laughs.

"I'm just sending it to my friend to show her your outfit." 

"Mm. Well, I've got to go to get a necklace."

"Ha! Well, have fun!" She says, and waves Akaashi goodbye.  
Out of all the things Akaashi expected anyone to say about his outfit, a tip on how to improve it was the least expected. But it was appreciated nonetheless. And Akaashi does actually buy a necklace, but he'll likely give it away as a gift eventually. He spends the rest of the day getting looks from multiple different people, some good, some bad, which is ultimately what he expected. A few people ask him for pictures and he gladly accepts. He recalls Bokuto, and the fact that his phone is off about an hour later when he spots the chain store they both visited when Bokuto took him shopping. And as per usual, he's missed a call, and he's got multiple texts from Bokuto and Kuroo.

From: Kuroo.  
i am going to fucKING KILL U!!!

From: Kuroo.  
HE IS WHINING ABOUT U 4 THE ELEVENTEENTH TIME PLZ STOP HIM!

From: Kuroo.  
do not read into that last txt ok i have made m i s t a k e s. soon ill be killed by the promise poli ce saVE ME.

And of course Kuroo urging Akaashi not to read into the text, causes him to wonder what the fuck he meant. Is he talking about Bokuto? Is Bokuto whining about Akaashi? Is he saying good things or bad things, or is he just generally whining? Jesus, Akaashi, who said he's even talking about Bokuto. He could be talking about Kenma or something. But why would Kenma whine about Akaashi, and why would any of this have anything to do with the promise police? He forces his thoughts back onto his phone, and checks his other messages.

From: Bokuto.  
kuroo keeps kickin me

From: Bokuto.  
you should call meeeee i miss you

From: Bokuto.  
i found some money under the couch cushions

Akaashi is both confused and endeared by how varied Bokuto's messages are. As soon as he's typing in a reply for Kuroo, Bokuto texts him again.

From: Bokuto.  
oh my god

From: Bokuto.  
are you wearing a skirt right now

To: Bokuto.  
I have no idea where you got that from, but yes.

From: Bokuto.  
shirofuku sent me like 4 pictures oh my g od

From: Bokuto.  
you look so cute holy shit what the fuck

To: Bokuto.  
Thanks, and I'm sure it'll be up on some magazine under some scandalous title soon, anyway.

Bokuto doesn't respond, so Akaashi puts his phone away, and starts to head back to his car. He makes sure to listen to the background talk about him.

A few of his personal favorites are:  
"Why are you whispering about them, dickface."  
"Oh my god it's Akaashi. He's- wait, is that a skirt?"  
"Fuck this, I'll just dress like HIM."  
"No, wait, that person over there. THEY'RE my aesthetic."  
"Eeehhh, I wouldn't wear a skirt."

And the infrequent sprinklings of requests for a picture. Those are fun, especially when the person wants a picture of JUST Akaashi. Then he gets to pose. Once he's in his car, though, he sighs and rests his forehead against the steering wheel. His cell phone vibrates in the seat next him, and he glances over at it. It's either Bokuto, Kuroo, or some dumb magazine already has an article up. It's Kuroo.

From: Kuroo.  
bokuto is in his room and im... a little suspicious. just a little.

From: Kuroo.  
he just fucking BOLTED in there like damn son chill.

To: Kuroo.  
Why did you feel the need to tell me this?

From: Kuroo.  
oh plz, u kno y, u little air freshener.

To: Kuroo.  
First off, that's the first time I've ever been called air freshener for any reason. Second, I don't actually know why, despite what you may think.

From: Kuroo.  
alrighty well then its time 4..... A SUBJECT CHANGE!

From: Kuroo.  
lets talk about bo's birthday, lmao.

To: Kuroo.  
I thought you didn't have plans?

From: Kuroo.  
i don't but I was just saying u should buy him like 87 gifts and have him open them all and then at the last one ur like actually wait, this one I have 2 open 4 u and its just empty n u go 'oops i guess you cant giftwrap love'

To: Kuroo.  
Wow. That's... the worst way to tell him. I mean, if I changed a few details, maybe, but I am not saying ' oops I guess you can't giftwrap love' to tell him.

From: Kuroo.  
thats what u think but ur gonna say it n then ur both gonna date n make out too much and im gonna b the slightly grossed out but supportive dude friend and ill awkwardly leave the room all the time. 

To: Kuroo.  
I sincerely hope you delete these messages after you send them.

From: Kuroo.  
y in the heckies would i do that??

To: Kuroo.  
I don't know, maybe because Bokuto could see these just as easily as you could?

From: Kuroo.  
maybe thats y im not deleting them... in the hopes hell steal my phone n see n then u 2 will b together 4ever.

To: Kuroo.  
Good god.

\----------------

Bokuto runs outside and sits on the curb, ignoring Kuroo yelling. Kuroo pants, running over and leaning over into himself.

"He... he's not- he's not going to be here... for- for a while." Kuroo pants, coughing at the end.

"I'm still gonna sit here. I told him I'd be outside waiting, so I gotta be!" Bokuto smiles. He himself realizes this is a stupid thing to do, waiting outside for a good two hours for Akaashi to arrive, but at the same time, he's determined not to let Akaashi down. Kuroo snorts.

"What'd Akaashi say about you waiting out here for two hours?" Kuroo laughs.

"I didn't tell him I started WAITING yet." Bokuto answers.

"I'm gonna tell him."

"Noooooo!" Bokuto whines and punches Kuroo in the shin.

"I'm gonna do it." Kuroo says, pulling out his phone, and Bokuto debates whether he should punch Kuroo in the shin again, or if he should just let Kuroo tell Akaashi. He picks the latter. Kuroo stares at Bokuto for a good minute before he actually sends any message. And then Kuroo puts his phone away, and shoves his hands in his pockets.

"Sooo, Bokuto. You gonna ask the god of all singers if he likes you today?" 

"Mm... Nah. I don't think so. I don't wanna put him on the spot." Bokuto tells him, looking back at him. Kuroo's face is all scrunched up in disgust.

"You're THAT romance character. Man, alright okay, let's make a plan. A plan for you to confess. Today. Let's just fucking plan this motherfucker. We'll plan it so well, people will hear about it and use this plan to confess, and we'll forever be immortalized in the confessing method that they'll name after us. Goddamn badass planner time." Kuroo sits in front of Bokuto and grabs his hands.

"Let's do this shit, Bokuto." Kuroo says, and he looks so determined to plan out the entire day so it perfectly culminates into a few key minutes of the day. 

"Uh, alright, well, I have one request. Can this plan not involve any huge public gestures?"

"Whoa, why?"

"I don't think Akaashi's comfortable with that sort of stuff! Plus, I don't really feel like big public gestures are too romantic." Bokuto explains and Kuroo just stares at him and mutters something about 'you two I swear to god' before starting to type in his phone again.

"Alright, I can work with this. What about private gestures, like doing something nice here, or at that tiny little park in the middle of the complex?"

"I guess? Although, I kinda want it to be away from here, because he's been here bunches of times?" Bokuto says, and Kuroo clicks his tongue.

"True. Maybe you could take him to the lake or something." Kuroo hums, tapping his fingers along his jaw.

"Kuroo, are you... not coming with?" Bokuto asks, thinking about how well he'd function without Kuroo actually telling him what to do.

"Well, I am. For most of the day. But I mean, you should control the ACTUAL confessing part of this. So I'll leave you alone for that."

"Shit, I'm gonna mess it up though, fuck." Bokuto buries his face in his hands.

"Hey, no. You'll do fine, and if it all goes to shit somehow, we'll do it another day. If you don't like something about the plan, we can change it, or we can just not plan it at all, I mean--"

"Wait, Kuroo, is the art gallery open? Is it open today?" Bokuto asks hurriedly, and Kuroo squints, as if recalling it is hard.

"Uhhh, the one we went to like... what, four years ago? It should be?"

"We should go THERE." Bokuto barks enthusiastically.

"Why- can I ask why you remembered that place? We were there just to pick up Kenma."

"I dunno, I feel like that's the place to be for this today."

"Last time you felt like something was going to 'turn out well', I ended up with a truckful of pinecones." 

"Ah shut up. Can you see if it's open though?" Bokuto asks, and Kuroo nods, unlocking his phone.

Bokuto starts grabbing the tiny little rocks in the parking space in front of him, placing them in basic shapes, like a square or something. He's not terribly focused right now. Did he sleep? He can't remember. He does remember being insanely excited for today, and if he's being completely honest, he's still insanely excited. But he's also conflicted, because this is Akaashi's first day back, and why does he need to tell him today when Akaashi plans to move closer? What if Akaashi says yes when he asks? What if he says no? Of course he's gonna say no, what else would he say? At least Bokuto will have it out of the way.

"So, good news, and maybe bad news. Good news, it's open until a little past midnight, so it's open. Maybe bad news, there's a black tie event going on, and I think it's invite only. BUT, with Akaashi, there's no doubt they'll let us in, it's good for their publicity to have a celebrity visit. I don't think we have anything black tie to wear, though." Kuroo explains, resting his face in his free hand.

"Oh, wait, wait! We have the suits Akaashi gave us for the, uh, gala thing a while back!" Bokuto grins, and Kuroo snaps.

"True, I can go dig them up, and we'll wear those. Do you think Akaashi has something to wear?" 

"Of course he does." Bokuto answers, and Kuroo nods, holding up a hand. Bokuto high fives him, and Kuroo then jogs inside.

From: A.K.  
Why would you buying me a gift make any sense? It's your birthday, not mine. I'm supposed to be nice to you today, not the other way around.

From: A.K.  
Tell Kuroo to stop texting me, forever.

To: A.K.  
whats he textin you thats causin you so much distress

From: A.K.  
Just general things that jeopardize my standing with you.

To: A.K.  
im 100% sure theres nothin you could do that would sabotage your relationship with kuroo and i 

From: A.K.  
Debatable.

To: A.K.  
at least in my opinion nothing besides straight up murdering kuroo or i could make me like you any less akaashi

From: A.K.  
Good to know. Has Kuroo come up with some elaborate plan for your birthday yet? Judging by his texts to me, he's up to something.

To: A.K.  
were gonna go to an art gallery if that okay with you 

To: A.K.  
its a formal event tho and also arent you drivin

From: A.K.  
I was stopped for a bit, I'm about to start off again, so no I'm not currently driving.

To: A.K.  
okay well i gotta go plan with kuroo so you have fun drivin here

Bokuto shuts his phone down, as to better focus on planning this whole thing, but really it doesn't help, he just ends up wondering if Akaashi's responded.

"Alright, let's get this started for REAL." Kuroo taps his fingers on the cement with an odd clicking sound. Bokuto nods and Kuroo starts explaining a few different plans for telling Akaashi. Most of them rely on constructing some sort of romantic climax, but putting everything together perfectly in the hopes that Akaashi will be happy at that moment is a little risky. Bokuto explains this to Kuroo, who puts his hands on top of his head and curls into his chest.

"You're right. There's no telling if the moment will feel romantic to him. Maybe instead of you know, planning it, you could just... wing it? Like, okay man, in my books and shit there's--"

"This isn't a book, though." Bokuto states and Kuroo hisses and shushes him vigorously.

"IN MY BOOKS. There's always this moment that isn't planned, but it's perfect, like they fall over each other in a field or something and stare into each other's eyes, and bam, they stop thinking and they kiss." Kuroo explains.

"That'd be good, but that's not really a thing? Or if it is, I've never heard of a moment like that in real life, dude." 

"Alright, alright. I guess... I'll rely on how everything goes? Maybe we should make a signal so if you think sometime is the best time to tell him, I can figure out some cool thing to do, to help you? Maybe."

"I think... Maybe we shouldn't even plan it? I dunno, if you want to plan it you can, but, I'm just gonna go wherever." Bokuto shrugs, and Kuroo chews on his lip.

"Mm." Kuroo agrees, and then just stares at the pen in his hand.

"Do you think we should start getting ready AFTER Akaashi gets here or before?" Kuroo mutters, as if he's talking to the pen.

"After. So he can not be in the car for a while."

"You're right."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay I say this everytime but I'm.... So Sorry for being this late like DAMN
> 
> I prematurely made my own art for this chapter lmao


	18. Partition

Bokuto gets ready beforehand. Mostly because he's stressed and there's nothing else to do. And since there's still a good 20 minutes until Akaashi even gets here, Kuroo is putting whatever good fashion sense he has to good use. Mostly in trying to find a hairstyle that makes Bokuto look like he owns half the world instead of owning 2 sets of alphabet magnets. It's not working, from the exasperated and annoyed sighs Kuroo keeps giving. Kuroo starts staring at Bokuto's hair, and talking to himself about what he could do with what limited hair expertise he has, and it makes Bokuto feel a little awkward. Having someone talk to your forehead about how to get a good finger wave in such thick hair CAN be like that.

"Fuck, dude! I haven't even asked what you want your hair to look like." Kuroo laughs, and looks back at him, rather than his hair.

"Are you the best person to be making hair decisions?" Bokuto asks, and Kuroo snaps his fingers and points at him.

"Too far, man. Too far." Kuroo mutters. Kuroo stares at Bokuto, still pointing.

"Maybe I could call Kenma? He's taken cosmetology classes..." Kuroo states, obviously talking to himself.

"He took classes in dying and bleaching hair, I thought?"

"Shut the face. He had to take a few others just to ensure he'd understand the classes he WANTED to take." Kuroo puts a hand on his waist.

"He's working though, so that's a no on--" Kuroo's cut off by a knock on the door, that is most definitely Akaashi. Kuroo scrambles to the door, opening it as if his life depends on it.

"How does his hair look? Good?" Kuroo asks, looking back and forth between Bokuto's hair and Akaashi's face. Is this how artists feel asking their friends about their art?

"Mm. Do you have a hairbrush?" Akaashi inquires, walking over. Kuroo points out the fact that all the hair products and tools are on the stand next to Bokuto. Akaashi smiles and digs through the pile to get a hairbrush. 

"Just brush out what you've already got in his hair, and it should work just fine, considering there's a... lot in his hair." Akaashi says, and Kuroo smiles innocently, and Bokuto recognizes the look, unlike Akaashi.

"Could you show me?" Kuroo hums. Akaashi picks at the hairbrush for a second or two before smiling awkwardly, nodding, leaning down and pushing some hair behind his ears. Akaashi sits down in the chair in front of Bokuto.

Bokuto just stares at the floor, trying to figure out something to say that wouldn't be weird, because saying ANYTHING right now would be weird as fuck. Akaashi keeps messing around with little bits of hair that keep falling in his face. 

"Bokuto, look at me." Akaashi says softly, and Bokuto snaps his head up immediately. Akaashi's focused on him for a second before he starts brushing his hair out. Bokuto doesn't really know what to do, so he keeps watching Akaashi fussing with strands at the edge of his vision. Bokuto looks over at Kuroo, still smiling innocently, arms crossed in triumph. Bokuto turns back to look at Akaashi, and Akaashi's biting his lip, in focus.

"Okay." Bokuto answers, probably delayed by a minute and a half, by the way Akaashi breaks his focus to look at Bokuto for a split second. He laughs, and stands up.

"You're done. Is Kuroo coming?" Akaashi mumbles, looking at Bokuto's shoulder.

"Yeah." Bokuto breathes, watching Akaashi smile, and nod.

"Alright, well, he can go get ready. I'll get ready in the bathroom, and Kuroo can get ready wherever else." Akaashi shrugs, grabbing one of his bags and heading toward the bathroom. Kuroo gives Bokuto a thumbs up once Akaashi is out of sight, and Bokuto takes a deep breath and groans.

"Why would you do that." Bokuto sighs.

"Because I enjoy watching you two in your ignorance." Kuroo laughs, walking towards his room.

Bokuto stands up, and pulls down the sleeve of his suit a bit. He then wonders how flexible a suit is, and figures striking really odd poses would test it the best. He gets bored a good two minutes, and then his train of thought wonders about modeling actual poses. Akaashi's modeled a couple times. Bokuto tries to replicate the pose he remembers Akaashi being in when he saw him in whatever magazine. Bokuto trips over his own foot in this process. Luckily, he catches himself on the couch. Bokuto gets bored again, and walks around the living room in a figure 8 until he thinks of something else. He never thinks of something else, because before he knows it, Akaashi's sitting on the couch, staring at him with amusement. Bokuto promptly stops and sits down.

"Isn't Kuroo done?" Bokuto asks, trying to sit in a position that makes him look attractive but also is comfortable. He ends up looking stupid probably, but Akaashi just laughs happily.

"No, he's uh, he's still getting ready. He takes longer than an A-list celebrity." Akaashi clasps his hands together, and Bokuto notices his nails are painted. He lurches out of his chair and looks at them for a second. Bokuto then realizes, that was weird as hell. Akaashi doesn't seem fazed though, putting his hand out for Bokuto to look at.

"I haven't had the time to do anything with them before, so this is the first time in a while." Akaashi tells him.

"They're nice. They match your outfit." Bokuto mutters, and Akaashi sighs.

"Thank you, Bokuto."

"Now aren't you supposed to compliment me?" Bokuto asks jokingly, and Akaashi flicks Bokuto's forehead, and laughs.

"Your hair looks wonderful, who did it?" He smiles.

"Ah, yes, thank you. My talented hairstylist, Akaashi Keiji, did my hair today."

"Oh? Is he good?" 

"Ah, I don't think he's had much experience in hair before."

"Hey, well he has more experience than you." Akaashi grins, crossing his arms, tapping his fingers on his elbow.

"This is true, but can he sing as well as me?" Bokuto asks.

"Ooh, likely not." Akaashi laughs, and Bokuto smiles.

"Yo, assface and beautiful angel of my life, we gotta go." Kuroo yells across the room, and Bokuto looks over.

"Which one is assface, and which is the angel?" Akaashi asks, getting up and walking over. Kuroo winks. After that, heading to the car, Kuroo tries to spin the keys to look cool, and he ends up dropping them. Of course, he plays it off as if he meant to do it.

"Do you think we should call them in advance and tell them we're coming?" Bokuto asks, leaning down to get in the back. 

"I don't know. Hey Akaashi, do you want to make a surprise appearance, or a regular one?" Kuroo asks, getting in the driver's seat.

"Let's go with surprise."

"Lets." Kuroo nods, backing out of the parking spot. Bokuto wonders if letting Kuroo drive was the best idea. He forgets about it when he remembers that Akaashi gets to sit next to him.

"Akaashi!" Bokuto smiles. Akaashi looks over, probably startled.

"Yes?"

"Do you think Kuroo should be driving?" Bokuto says, blurting out the first topic that falls into his head.

"Well, he's not incompetent, he knows how to drive. Why?"

"I don't... I don't really know, I'm just trying to figure out what to talk about. So I remembered that Kuroo was driving and I decided to talk about that because that was the first thing I thought of after I said your name, and I think it'd be weird to just call out your name and not say anything afterwards." Bokuto shrugs. 

"Mm. Well, what about the event we're going to? What's it for?"

"It's just a big opening for some famous artist. She's supposed to be there today, if you happen to like her art."

"Do you know anything about the art?" Akaashi asks, resting his face in his hand, and smiling.

"I know it's mostly paintings, and a few sculptures, and she's well known for her paintings involving surrealism and darker emotion focused portraits of people and things?" Bokuto answers, clasping his hands together in his lap, and grinning.

"Sounds nice." Akaashi mutters, bringing his hands up to his mouth and speaking from behind them. He seems to be watching the road ahead with concern. Bokuto wonders if Akaashi thought what he said was stupid, and so he just stares at the back of his hands. Kuroo clears his throat awkwardly, and turns the radio on. He's the only one who talks the rest of the way, and it's to himself. Once they find a parking spot, Kuroo makes some stupid joke about awkwardness, and Akaashi scoffs in amusement.

"So who's the bodyguard and who's the date?" Kuroo asks, looking at Akaashi curiously. Bokuto is tempted to kick Kuroo in the chest, but Kuroo cracked a rib last time Bokuto hit him with full force in the chest, so that might not be best.Still, Bokuto was embarassed enough to kick something.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's weird to have more than one bodyguard unless maybe you're someone who runs a country, so wouldn't it be easier to explain that you have one bodyguard and one date?" Kuroo crosses his arms, and starts heading towards the building, grinning like a child. He's gonna kick him. Maybe twice.

"Well, going by looks, Bokuto looks more like he should be the bodyguard." Akaashi states, and Kuroo looks shocked.

"...But?"

"But what? Out of you two, I'd definitely date Bokuto, but he looks more like the bodyguard in this situation." Akaashi explains. Bokuto slows down a little to take a breath because he kind of wants to kick himself now. He's also glad he's just behind Akaashi because then its harder for Akaashi to point out how red he is.

"So you want me to be the... the date? Because I don't look tough enough to be a bodyguard... I'm not tough enough..." Kuroo mutters, his arms falling back to his sides, and he slouches forward a bit.

"Okay, fine, alright. You can be the bodyguard." Akaashi sighs, and Kuroo perks back up, smiling and thanking him.

"So, Bokuto's the date!" Kuroo clarifies just as they approach the door. Akaashi takes a second before nodding. Bokuto catches up, and just as soon as Kuroo walks through the door, his whole demeanor changes from his usual self to a more serious threatening version of himself. Akaashi also seems to note this given by the way he stares at Kuroo in confusion for a few seconds. There's a very non-threatening man guarding the entrance to the gallery, and Kuroo clears his throat, and introduces Akaashi.

"Oh! You're Akaashi Keiji! I mean, you're not on the invite list, but my daughter's a huge fan, and I'm sure she'd love for you to see her paintings. Can I just get all of your names down here?" He says, and Bokuto smiles. 

"You already know Akaashi Keiji. His date, Bokuto Koutarou, will also be joining us." Kuroo answers, and the man writes them down. Akaashi sighs.

"I'm sorry, my friend, and or bodyguard, Kuroo Tetsurou is also joining us, I apologize for him leaving himself out."

"Ah, it's no big deal. Go right on in." He winks, opening the door, Akaashi thanks him, and grabs Bokuto's hand, dragging him in. Bokuto doesn't pry his hand away afterwards, and neither does Akaashi. Bokuto is internally crying because of how happy he is. Of course, a few minutes later, after Kuroo's started chatting with an old lady who needed help carrying something, Akaashi lets go to point something out on one of the sculptures, and Bokuto makes a whining sound, which Akaashi must hear because he looks back at Bokuto with surprise.

"Sorry, did you want to hold my hand? I just thought you might've been uncomfortable."

"Why would I be uncomfortable?"

"Because we're in public, because you don't want to, because it's a little hot in here. A lot of reasons you could be uncomfortable." Akaashi answers, grabbing his hand.

"I wouldn't be uncomfortable holding your hand in public? Has... anyone ever been uncomfortable with it before?" Bokuto asks.

"Once or twice." Akaashi mumbles.

"Mm." Bokuto hums, and Akaashi shrugs, pulling him towards another side of the room. This one's lined with various paintings, and none are similar to the next. Akaashi keeps pointing out things he likes in them and Bokuto will nod in agreement, and ask Akaashi why he likes it. Akaashi will then explain why, and then he'll understand, and the cycle repeats at the next painting. Akaashi suddenly lets go of Bokuto's hand, and Bokuto turns around sharply to look at Akaashi, who's apologizing to a young woman with long blonde hair, tied up in a manner that looks both messy but elegant, if that's possible. She's just spluttering random words, trying to string a sentence together. Bokuto steps over.

"Ah! Sorry! It's, I'm, hello. Paintings! Sorry, uh. I'm... I'm the painter, and I screwed that up." She stutters. Akaashi smiles nicely.

"No, I get this a lot. I like your paintings. I've heard a lot about you." Akaashi says, and Bokuto doesn't register the fact Akaashi's taken his hand again until Akaashi squeezes it.

"Well, I'm... I'm glad you like them! Apparently a lot of people do, actually." She smiles. Akaashi continues speaking to her, and about a minute into the conversation, he's just staring at his own hand wondering about whether or not Akaashi is just holding his hand out of politeness, or if he's holding his hand because he wants to. Bokuto wants to ask. He also wants to kiss Akaashi, but he's nowhere near asking about that one.

"--date, Bokuto. He also likes your paintings, but it may be partially because I like them." Bokuto catches, and looks back at the girl, smiling warmly at him.

"Either way, thank you. I really have to go talk to someone else, though. If I run into you again, I'll try and make better conversation!" She says, starting to walk away. Akaashi sighs and spins around to face Bokuto.

"Anyway. Where do you want to head next? I'm pretty sure we've seen everything, but if you see something." 

"Uh, there was the one sculpture by the door?"

"What sculpture?"

"Oh, wait... I might... I might be thinking of the one near the back." Bokuto mutters, and Akaashi laughs.

"Well, we have to find Kuroo anyway, so we'll check back at the door."

"Yeah, uh, okay." Bokuto answers, and is internally trying to remember what Kuroo had wanted him to do right about now, in whatever that convoluted plan was. Or course, it's not long before Kuroo starts viciously waving at them once he's in view.

"How's it going, friends? Well?" Kuroo asks, and Bokuto nods, and Kuroo pulls his phone out, swinging it in a circle between his fingers.

"Maybe you should check your texts. Just a little reminder." Kuroo says, and puts his phone away, before gesturing for Bokuto and Akaashi to check their phones. Bokuto begrudgingly lets go of Akaashi's hand to look.

From: The Cool Friend™  
im at the front so if ur gonna kiss or anything do u think u could just scooch a lil closer so i can mentally record the moment u 2 decided 2 get married????

From: The Cool Friend™  
k well since u didn't respond u better either be kissin or u kno, kissing??

From: The Cool Friend™   
smh im gonna punch u in the HEART where it hurts the most bc ur in love

Bokuto just looks up and stares at Kuroo. Kuroo is watching Akaashi, who's still reading whatever Kuroo sent him. Kuroo looks over at Bokuto, and winks. 

"Akaashi, I must steal your wonderful date away for just a moment." Kuroo says, grabbing Bokuto's arm and pulling him a couple feet away from Akaashi.

"Three questions. One, did you two kiss while I was not with you?"

"No."

"Two, did you ask him the question you were supposed to ask?"

"Uh, no."

"Three, did you lie about those questions?"

"No."

"Fuck, dude. That's depressing. Okay, well, uh... tell Akaashi I had to yell at someone or something, and get back to whatever you two were doing." Kuroo answers, snapping his fingers and walking away quickly. Bokuto sighs and walks back over to Akaashi, who's got his hands in his pockets, which disappoints him.

"Kuroo ran off again." 

"Predictable." Akaashi shrugs.

"Oh? How is that predictable?"

"A lot of different reasons."

"Mm. Speaking of Kuroo, I don't think you've ever seen his wall, have you?" Bokuto asks, walking towards a bench at the side of the room. Akaashi follows, shaking his head.

"No. That sounds ominous, though." Akaashi responds, sitting down.

"It's not really. He just has a wall of different musicians and people he admires, and you're on it more than once. I just figured it'd be something you could embarrass him with. Here." Bokuto tells him, unlocking his phone and leaving his messages, finding a picture of Kuroo's wall in the depths of one of his folders labeled 'kuroo and his weird ass shit'. Akaashi grins, and leans back against the wall.

"Good to again confirm he's a crazy big fan." 

"Oh, yeah. Crazy is an understatement. Once, he was going to make wallpaper with your face on it."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but I guess he could've just been joking about that." Bokuto shrugs, folding his hands together.

"Well, he's definitely a good friend, so whatever he may have thought about me before all this doesn't really matter much in my opinion." Akaashi states. Bokuto nods.

"How much longer did we want to stay, because I'm pretty sure Kuroo's just keeping us here for some unknown reason." Akaashi asks.

"I can text him."

To: The Cool Friend™  
lets just leave

From: The Cool Friend™  
20 more minutes my dude, I'm having the time of my L I F E.

To: The Cool Friend™  
10

From: The Cool Friend™  
dealio

"We've got 10 minutes." Bokuto tells Akaashi.

"Well, we're already at the front so it's not like we can head back to the front door."

"Well, we have... 9 minutes to figure something out."

\------------------

From: Kuroo.  
bitch just kiss that man. u kno u want 2.

To: Kuroo.  
I still have the means to hire a hitman.

From: Kuroo.  
please spare me PL EASE

From: Kuroo.  
honestly tho just kiss him. 

To: Kuroo.  
And why would I do that?

From: Kuroo.  
bc u like him???

To: Kuroo.  
I'm not going to just spontaneously kiss him. For multiple reasons.

From: Kuroo.  
right, right... well update me if shit happens ok bye

To: Kuroo.  
I doubt anything is going to happen within the next two.minutes. On the topic of leaving, where are you?

From: Kuroo.  
I'll BE thwre cool your jets don't u kno what ok bye means

Akaashi turns his phone off and clasps it between both of his hands. Bokuto continues trying to balance his on his forehead. Akaashi warns him it's going to fall and crack, and Bokuto drops it in his distraction. Akaashi laughs when Bokuto tells him it's cracked.

"I warned you." He says, and Bokuto makes a sad face. Kuroo then yells at them from the door, and Akaashi grabs Bokuto's hand (a very recent habit that Akaashi is very happy about) and helps him up. Bokuto continues holding his hand to the door, and Kuroo looks Akaashi in the eye and clasps his own hands together with a questioning look.

"Shut up, and head towards the car." Akaashi tells him, and he raises his hands in surrender. Kuroo winks and jogs ahead a couple yards.

"Hey, Akaashi?" Bokuto says, and Akaashi looks over.

"Did- I mean- do... No, I... Did you find somewhere to stay?" Bokuto asks, pausing halfway through.

"Of course. It's right behind Kenma's shop. Not far. Of course, I'm not supposed to be there until tomorrow, so Kuroo... graciously told me I could stay until tomorrow."

"Couldn't you just get a hotel room? Or... a hotel?"

"That's what I said, but of course, being the kind man he is, he insisted." He tells Bokuto.

"I did. You know me, always thinking of generous things to do." Kuroo replies, unlocking the car. Bokuto scoffs. 

"I'm driving this time." Bokuto says, and Akaashi agrees. Kuroo puts his hand over his chest, and makes a fake sobbing sound.

"I've been betrayed... even my closest friends don't trust me."

"I trust you, you just drive like shit." Bokuto grins, climbing into the car. Kuroo shakes his head.

"I get to sit with an A-list celebrity! Wow!" Kuroo laughs.

"You mean THE A-list celebrity." Bokuto corrects him.

"That's true." Akaashi admits, and Kuroo pats his shoulder.

"I'm pleased to meet you." 

"Okay, let's just get home." Akaashi says, and Kuroo takes a deep breath.

Once out of the parking lot, Kuroo decides to ask Akaashi what the most embarrassing he did while in school was. Akaashi agrees to tell him, mostly because his most embarrassing thing isn't even that embarrassing, as long as Kuroo tells his as well.

"Yeah, yeah, alright." Kuroo agrees.

"Mm. So, I think I was 9 or 10, and there was a talent show. My mother- convinced I was going to be a superstar someday, which she wasn't wrong about -signed me up to sing. Of course, I was 9. I did not have the voice or the courage to do this. So on the day of, they called me up, and I was just supposed to sing this little lullaby, and so I stood there for two minutes before I started singing, and because I was trying to sing out of my range, and I was singing extremely quietly, it sounded like cats screeching while someone was dragging something metal across glass. There was no applause. Needless to say, I did not win. My mother did sign me up for voice training that very same week, though." Akaashi says, folding his hands in his lap.

"That's--" 

"Oh! And the lady who ran the talent show that year emailed me, after I first released music, and she told me she regretted not picking me as the winner." Akaashi interrupts Kuroo.

"That's awkward. I also bombed in a talent show, but that is not my most embarrassing moment. I believe Bokuto knows the story I'm about to tell." Kuroo says, closing his eyes, as if he's about to be injured.

"Once, when I was 16 or 17. There was this boy. He was a huge piece of work. Also a huge work of art, the guy was like the eye candy of the school. For some reason, he really liked to make fun of me specifically, and it was probably my hair, and the fact I had to wear retainers still. I ignored him for the most part, but whatever rumors he started usually stuck, because everyone believes the hot guy. One day, he started a rumor that I was gay, and I was totally head over heels in love with him. And as much as I do like kissing an occasional man, I am not gay." Kuroo stops, holding a finger to his mouth. Bokuto chuckles.

"So, I mean, I wasn't too fazed by this rumor, but this one, it caught on. It was the biggest rumor so far. There were doctored photos and fake stories circulating through the place. There were NO skeptics. For all everyone knew, I was gay. Completely. This guy had managed to get the entire school to believe this. I still wasn't fazed. He continued to pick at me for being gay, to fuel the rumors. And finally, I realized. I realized how to annihilate this guy. At lunch, he started pulling his tricks, and I stood up and I asked him how he knew I was gay. He struggled to find an answer for about a minute, before I patted his cheek and walked away." Kuroo grins.

"How's that embarrassing?" Akaashi asks, confused.

"He's not finished." Bokuto laughs.

"Thank you, Bokuto. So, later on, everyone started rumors that he was gay for me, and like, shit went down. His girlfriend broke up with him, and like 2 of his friends called him out. I felt bad for just like, destroying this guy's life. So, I asked him if he needed help with anything, and apparently, the guy needed help with chemistry, which, you know, that's my shit. I stayed after all my classes to help him every day for a good week or two, and one day, I'm teaching him about something and he makes a pickup line with it and I ask him if he knows any more, and he spews out about 40 different ones."

"I'm pretty impressed, and I tell him a few of mine. This is when... it gets bad. The pickup lines continue getting a lot more R-rated. And then it starts. Every day there was a new pickup line. Until I ask why he keeps making pickup lines. He tells me. He's ACTUALLY in love with me. But apparently, only since about a week into teaching him chemistry. There was some making out involved over the next week, because like hell I wasn't going to kiss the shit out of his hot face. Turns out, someone had gotten pictures and sent them out to like, everyone in the school. That was embarrassing. Mostly for him. But also for me. He's a porn star now." Kuroo finishes.

"That wasn't any more embarrassing than my story." Akaashi scoffs, and Kuroo agrees.

"But it's longer, and therefore more embarrassing by default. Just saying." Kuroo shrugs.

"Does Bokuto have an embarrassing story?" Akaashi grins, and Bokuto snorts.

"Alright. Fine. I was 17, and it was the last month of school, and there was a party, which I was dragged to, and through some monster chain of events, my clothes caught on fire. I didn't have a change of clothes, and no one wanted to help me, so I was actually naked in front of about 50-60 people for about half an hour. I eventually found something to wear, and yeah. Of course, unlike Kuroo, the rumors surrounding MY fiasco were positive." Bokuto explains, and Akaashi attempts to figure out what positive rumors could come from that. He's a little disappointed he doesn't have a more entertaining story.

"Mm." 

"Alright, next question, how many people have you kissed in your life?"

"I didn't realize we were doing a survey, but 9, including kissing for photos or movies." Akaashi answers.

"6." Kuroo states.

"3? Yeah." Bokuto nods. Kuroo looks over at him and raises an eyebrow.

"Right, 4. Forgot about you." Bokuto snaps his fingers and Kuroo shakes his head.

"When did you two kiss?" Akaashi laughs.

"It was in the beginning of last year, and Kuroo had a date, and wanted to know if he was a good kisser, because he took an online test and it said he wasn't, and.he was dead set on proving the test wrong so he asked me to help him. He was a pretty good kisser."

"You were a great kisser, I can't believe you haven't kissed more people."

"Eh." Bokuto shrugs.

"This is simultaneously the weirdest and best thing I've ever heard." Akaashi states.

"It's not that weird. You should try kissing him." Kuroo says, looking over and winking. Akaashi makes a choked sound and Bokuto coughs.

"No? Alright, next question. What did the first person you ever officially dated look like?" Kuroo says, changing the subject.

"Um... she was really short, she had red hair, and really blue eyes. She was the nicest person, I swear to god. She broke up with me by buying me a shit ton of stuff." Bokuto answers quickly, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel.

"He was tall, with really dark brown hair, wonderful brown eyes, and he had the most amazing jawline, and I broke up with him because he had to move and I was pretty focused on my work." Akaashi explains.

"They were, uh, actually they were my height? It was an odd feeling. Anyway, they had really pretty like caramel hair and they had hazel eyes. Since apparently we're discussing how they broke up with us too, they broke up with me because of the fact I wasn't around much. Which was true, I lived a good half an hour away." Kuroo tells Akaashi.

"And now, there's no time for any more questions! We're home!" Bokuto blurts, and hurriedly gets out of the car, as though he's going to die if he stays in it any longer. Akaashi climbs out, and Bokuto grabs his hand as soon as it's available. Akaashi is internally telling Bokuto how much he loves him, but all he actually says is:

"Oh."

And maybe it's due to the fact his tone conveys surprise which wasn't his intention, or because Bokuto was just helping him out of the car, but Bokuto lets his hand go and smiles at him oddly. Akaashi is internally apologizing profusely, but outwardly, all he's doing is walking up to their apartment in silence.

About two minutes of silence ensue before Kuroo steps out of his room in a comically oversized shirt that just says the word ass on it, and a pair of green and purple striped pajama pants. He books it to the couch, vaults over it, and turns on the television. Akaashi laughs and walks into the bathroom, and changes into the comfiest clothes he has, before joining Bokuto and Kuroo in the living room. Kuroo- to Akaashi's amazement -has an action movie on, rather than a romance movie. Akaashi apparently started watching 4 minutes in, and that's enough time to miss the whole point of the movie, according to Kuroo. 

So Kuroo rewinds the movie, and Akaashi pays close attention to the 4 whole minutes he missed. Akaashi looks back at Kuroo to ask if it was really worth it, and Bokuto has his head in his hands, smiling, watching the movie, and Akaashi just watches him focus in on the movie. Kuroo clears his throat and Bokuto looks over, which prompts Akaashi to violently turn back around.

This doesn't work out well. Akaashi basically twists out of the chair and onto the floor. Kuroo bursts out laughing, and Akaashi laughs mockingly, before standing back up and sitting back in the chair. 

"Are you alright?" Bokuto asks, and Akaashi doesn't look back at him, but he still nods, and confirms he's fine. 

Kuroo makes a few jokes about the main character during the movie, and Akaashi tells Kuroo that the guy who plays the main character is actually a huge jerk. Kuroo seems shocked.

"Is he really?"

"Oh, yeah. I had to work with him for a scene in a movie and it wasn't pleasant." He clarifies.

"Wait, Akaashi, how many movies have you been in? I thought you just mainly sang?" Kuroo asks, pausing the movie, and Bokuto leans forward in interest as well.

"4. None recently, though. I told you earlier, when I included actors I'd kissed in roles in my count for how many people I've kissed." Akaashi laughs in confusion.

"Did you ever do a makeout scene?" Kuroo asks, looking over at Bokuto, who's covered his face with his hands.

"Yeah, but I don't think it made it into the movie. I wouldn't know though, I never actually saw the movie." 

"SHIT, WELL, WHAT WAS IT CALLED?" Kuroo yells, standing up.

"Do you really want to watch me make out with someone for two seconds in a movie that wasn't even successful?"

"HELL YES! AS YOUR NUMBER ONE FAN, I HAVE A DUTY TO DO SO." 

"Just... give me the remote." Akaashi sighs, and Kuroo throws him the remote. Akaashi searches it up, and plays it once it shows as available. He then fast forwards to the point in which the scene was supposed to be, and lo and behold, it's not there. Kuroo then snatches and looks up deleted scenes and bloopers from the movie. He finds it in the second video they watch. There's two bloopers for it, and then the actual deleted scene. Kuroo watches with unwavering focus, and Bokuto has pulled his knees up to his chest, and he's still got his hand over his face. Akaashi's a little happy about that.

"Mm. I'd say you need more practice." Kuroo says, once the video is over.

"With?"

"Kissing. For kissing 9 people, you sure aren't too experienced. Just saying."

"You can't tell if someone's a bad kisser from a video." Akaashi scoffs.

"Well, I'm not kissing you to test the theory." Kuroo answers, crossing his arms, and looking back at Bokuto. Bokuto puts his hand over his face again and shakes his head in embarassment. It's not like Bokuto would want to kiss him anyway. That's fine, though. He's fine just being around him. 

Kuroo sighs, and goes back to the original movie they were watching, and Akaashi just keeps looking back at Bokuto, who isn't even watching the movie anymore, he's fiddling with the hem of his shirt nervously. Eventually Bokuto looks over at Akaashi, and to avoid another chair falling situation, Akaashi just mouths the words 'are you alright' to him, and Bokuto nods and responds with the word 'sorry'. Akaashi asks what he's sorry about and Bokuto points at Kuroo. Akaashi nods in understanding and then shrugs.

"It's alright." Akaashi says out loud, and Kuroo looks at him in confusion, and then looks back at Bokuto, probably realizes what just happened, and then crosses his arms angrily. Bokuto laughs for a bit, and Akaashi enjoys how nice his laugh sounds.

Akaashi keeps tabs on Bokuto throughout the next movie, and once that one's over, Kuroo announces he's going to bed, and if Akaashi wanted blankets or anything for the couch, ask Bokuto. Akaashi then sits over next to Bokuto.

"Why were you apologizing for Kuroo?" Akaashi asks.

"I don't know, he likes to play matchmaker and sometimes it doesn't end up well, like this one time, he tried to set up this woman and this man and it was terrible, and they didn't ever speak again. I guess its worked a couple times though. And, uh, I thought that was what he was doing! So, I figured I should apologize because he probably wasn't going to."

"I've heard about him doing that, yeah." Akaashi sighs.

"Uh, speaking of... the matchmaking thing? He said something about... that. Um, recently, and then told me I should ask you? I don't know if I want to know the answer exactly." 

"You mean me asking him not to play matchmaker?"

"Yes, yeah. That."

"I just, I don't like people trying to coerce me into things. That's... that's pretty much it." Akaashi laughs awkwardly.

"Oh, well, yeah. I was just asking because I kind of- or, wait- no- I guess I, uh, really want to kiss you? But it's fine! Actually, I probably, uh, I probably shouldn't have said that." Bokuto states quietly, pulling at strings on the hem of his shirt again. Akaashi keeps replaying it in his head, trying to assure himself that Bokuto did in fact, mean what Akaashi thinks he means. Bokuto stands up, and turns the TV off. 

"Sorry, I'll just get you some blankets and whatever." Bokuto mutters and Akaashi splutters some weird jumbled word.

"No! I want- I mean... I want to kiss you." Akaashi blurts and Bokuto just stands there with his shirt sleeve in his mouth.

"Uh." Bokuto answers, and Akaashi stares at his hands.

"Can- can I?" Bokuto asks, and Akaashi takes a deep breath and nods. Bokuto steps back over and leans down.

"Sorry." Bokuto mutters, kissing the side of Akaashi's mouth, and Akaashi smiles, and covers his face.

"I'm really going to get you some blankets and stuff now." Bokuto says, and he walks off, coming back with 2 blankets and a pillow. He sets them down at the end of the couch.

"Alright so..." he mutters.

"Sorry, that just really sucked, can I try again?" He says, pressing his hand up against Akaashi's face, Akaashi nods, and Bokuto kisses him again. Akaashi puts a hand on Bokuto's and Bokuto hums his assent, and pulls away.

"I really have to sleep." Bokuto sighs, but he's smiling.

"That's acceptable."

"Was that real or am I just really tired right now." Bokuto asks, and Akaashi laughs.

"It was real. Unless I'm also just really tired."

"Mm. Your laugh is nice. I have to go."

"Alright, um, I hope you sleep well." Akaashi says, pressing his fingertips against his mouth. Bokuto nods, and starts to walk away.

"I will." Bokuto hums, and Akaashi makes his bed slowly and carefully, because it feels like if he makes it too fast, he'll pass out.

\---------------

Bokuto wakes up in confusion, because all of a sudden, he's totally forgotten whether he actually kissed Akaashi or not, because the constant replay in his head ends up feeling a lot like a dream. He walks out into the living room, and asks Akaashi if it actually happened. Akaashi takes a minute before barely opening an eye and looking at him, and then the clock on the wall.

"Bokuto. It's 3 in the morning."

"No, it's not, it's... I guess it is." Bokuto mutters and Akaashi laughs.

"Did you really wake me up at 3 to ask whether I kissed you or not?"

"Yes!"

"Then, yes." Akaashi answers, sitting up and leaning on his elbow.

"Wow, really?" Bokuto says in astonishment.

"Now, you're making ME think it didn't happen." 

"Ah, sorry! I couldn't sleep and when I did, I woke up and was like, 'what if I didn't really kiss him, how terrible would that be' and so I thought it was like 7 and I came out here to ask. But I guess it was just 3 A.M. and I was just being paranoid." Bokuto shrugs, and Akaashi smiles.

"I love you. Go back to bed." Akaashi sighs, patting Bokuto's face and pulling his blanket up over a good half of his face.

"Alright. Cool." Bokuto mumbles, walking back to his room. He eventually falls back asleep, and wakes up at a more appropriate hour. At this point, Kuroo's up and Akaashi's talking to him about some mundane thing. Bokuto watches them for a bit before Akaashi waves him over and holds his arms out. Bokuto grabs his hands and kisses him on the forehead, before letting go of Akaashi's hands, and looking over at Kuroo, who looks both disgusted and shocked. Bokuto shoots finger guns at him.

"What. The FUCK. DUDE. YOU DIDN'T EVEN TELL ME, YOU JUST WALK IN HERE AND EXPECT ME TO UNDERSTAND WHATS GOING ON?" Kuroo yells, smacking his hands on the counter.

"Pretty much." Bokuto grins. Kuroo looks at Akaashi for help.

"I thought it was obvious." Akaashi shrugs. Kuroo crosses his arms.

"Just because I'm extremely overjoyed you two got your shit together, doesn't mean I can't be angry that you won't tell me the details." Kuroo states.

"I'm sure you'll get thousands of details as soon as I even walk out of the door with him. I swear to god, the media already knows about this. I can feel it." Akaashi sighs, amd Bokuto nods.

"But, since you haven't been in the spotlight much in a while, it shouldn't blow up too bad, right?" Bokuto asks. 

He was wrong. Within the DAY, there's a shit ton of articles about it online, with pictures taken fresh outside Kenma's store, and in a nice little café. He sees the first article in that café, actually. Akaashi assures Bokuto he's not affected by it, and he's really fine with whatever they say about it. 

"I'm honestly impressed with how fast they got this out though. Must be a new record." Akaashi says, and Bokuto laughs.

"But like... where are they? I can't see them. I really can't, it's like some crazy ninja skills or something. I'm looking around and they aren't there. I swear." Bokuto whispers, leaning over so Akaashi can hear him.

"They just look like regular people, that's why you can't see them." Akaashi leans over as well, but he speaks in a regular voice.

"They're invisible because they look just like everyone else." Bokuto whispers, and Akaashi nods.

"You know how to figure out who's who?" Akaashi whispers in response.

"Ooh, no."

"Here, kiss me." Akaashi tells Bokuto. Bokuto kisses him, and Akaashi puts a hand on the side of his face. He stops a minute later, and clears his throat.

"Alright, who's putting something away?" Akaashi asks.

"The guy by the door, the girl by the register, and there's the other guy leaving the café." Bokuto answers.

"The guy by the door. Pretty sure it's him, because the girl threw her drink away a minute ago, and she's just putting her laptop away, and the guy leaving didn't have any bags, which means, no camera." Akaashi points out. Bokuto beams.

"That's amazing."

"You pick up a few things." Akaashi smiles.

"Of course, never discount anyone else in the café either, because they could just passively take pictures of me and post them, and those could wind up on the front page of a magazine." Akaashi explains, and Bokuto listens to him happily.

"Hey, Akaashi, do you actually like me? I mean, because if I said something that made you think--"

"Bokuto. No. I absolutely adore you, and you can stop asking me. I'm pretty sure there's nothing you could've said that would've forced me to date you, and if there was something, I'm fairly certain Kuroo would've said it seconds after he met me. I doubt he'd say it now, of course." 

"Sorry." Bokuto sighs, folding his hands together.

"It's really fine, Bokuto, it's just- it- you really have to trust that I love you okay?"

"I don't think that there's anyone on earth that would believe Akaashi Keiji was in love with them, even if you told them. It's like, seeing someone come back from the dead. You've seen it, but your common sense is saying it never happened." Bokuto shrugs, and watches Akaashi's expression change from confusion to adoration.

"I'm sure it is. However, I assure you that I love you. If that ever changes, I'm also sure I'll tell you about that. Okay?"

"Mmmmm, yeah... Sorry." Bokuto smiles awkwardly, resting half of his face in his hand. Akaashi sighs and leans over to kiss his forehead.

"Let's go, I have to get Kuroo a coffee before we leave."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOLY FUCK IM SO SORRY I THOUGHT I UPDATED AGES AGO
> 
> you've all lost interest by now probably. love y'all tho
> 
> this is the end???? I suck at endings but hey, I tried.


End file.
